What of Tommorrow?
by Petroleumjellydotone
Summary: Harry's last years of Hogwarts are filled with new mysteries,wild adventures,and of course the famous quidditch matches.will harry solve the mysteries? will he survive the adventures? will he stay on his broom long enough to defeat voldemort? HPGW RWHG
1. Chapter 1: Starting out on a Journey

**Chapter One:**

**Starting Out on a Journey**

Harry plunked his trunk down at the foot of his bed and sighed. He was back, back at Privet Drive that is.

He looked around the room that he hadn't been in since last summer. It seemed like a million years ago now that his guard had broken him free and he'd flown over London to Grimmauld Place. This past year had changed many things for Harry; he was not the same young man he had been at the beginning of last year. Every thing had changed now…

'Boy get down here, there is someone I want you to meet!' Vernon bellowed from the living room downstairs.

Harry sighed once again; this was going to be a long summer. He opened his bedroom door, turned right, and hurried down the stairs.

Harry walked into the Living Room to find Uncle Vernon sitting with a man who must have been in his late sixties. He was by no means tall, but he couldn't be defined as short either. He was quite a slim man with little to no fat on him. His face showed his age with wrinkles and white beard stubble covering his face. His hair was a fine white, it was ruffled and quite short, and it seemed that the scowl he wore was permanently etched there. Who was this man, and why the hell did Uncle Vernon want to introduce them?

'Boy, I want you to meet Mr. Finn, he just recently moved in next door, say hello,' Vernon demanded.

'Hello Mr. Finn,' Harry mumbled, still trying to figure out the point of this introduction.

'Speak up boy!' the elderly man commanded in a gruff, firm voice.

Harry looked the man over once more, trying to place him. It was obvious he was a no nonsense type gentleman, but he didn't seem like the type of man to be friends with Uncle Vernon either.

He cleared his throat and said in a clearer voice this time, 'Hello Mr. Finn.'

'There now, much better,' Mr. Finn voiced, before turning back to Vernon, 'I think he'll do nicely Vernon.'

_What the hell are they on about, _Harry thought. 'Um… excuse me Uncle Vernon, what's going on?' He asked in the most polite voice he could muster, not wanting his uncle to start yelling in front of this man.

'What's going on, boy is that as from this moment on you will be going over to Mr. Finns every afternoon to help him around the house. He asked if either you or Dudley could give up some of your afternoon time, and seeing as Dudders is far to busy with his social life, you've landed the job. You start tomorrow,' Vernon said in a sickly sweet tone he had plastered on to make himself appear well in front of the neighbors.

Harry's eyes widened slightly, just like that his summer had taken a turn, for better or worse he did not know. Though it would be a blessing to get out of this house for a little bit this summer. He didn't think he'd be able to bear yet another whole summer with only the Dursley's for company. But, no one had yet said anything about this old man; he could be worse company then even the Dursley's, if that were possible.

'Right then now that that's settled, Mr. Finn would you care to stay for tea?' Vernon asked, again in that phony tone of voice.

'Thank you for the offer, Vernon, but I am afraid I must decline. I have my bird to care for you see,' Mr. Finn spoke, though Harry had a feeling he was lying through his teeth. Though he couldn't blame the man, he'd do the same and more to avoid dinner with the Dursley's. Maybe this man wasn't so bad after all…

Vernon hid his disgust for the talk of the bird, he and petunia had never been much for animals, and smiled at the elderly man before leading him to the door.

'Oh well then perhaps another time,' Harry never thought he had heard his uncle speak so humanely, with the exception of when he was sucking up to one of his clients.

Harry heard the door shut and watched as his uncle reentered the living room, the fake smile that was there moments ago had been replaced with his customary angry pig-like expression.

'What do you want, Boy?' Vernon sneered at him.

'Huh? Wha- nothing… nothing at all.' Harry said once again murmuring.

'Then get out of my sight,' Vernon said with a threatening manner.

Harry turned around, rolling his eyes, and headed back up the stairs to the solitariness of his small bedroom.

He shut the door, and flopped on his bed staring across at the open window leading out to the streets of Little Whinging. The place that was to be his prison for at least the next month.

Left with nothing else to do, now that any and all distractions he had planned had been forgotten, Harry's mind turned back to that night back in June. Where everything had changed…

'_There's nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… he's gone.'_

'_Come out, come out, little Harry… Crucio'_

'_If death is nothing, Dumbledore then kill the boy...'_

'_And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…'_

Harry ached and shuddered. He needed Sirius back he never knew how much he meant to him until it was too late to tell, and be worthy anything.

He hated bellatrix for doing this, but even more he hated himself for letting it happen.

Sirius didn't deserve his death; he'd only just started to get his life back together, though he had still been in hiding. Azkaban's grip on his mind was finally loosening, and he had been starting to smile easier. He could finally look into his eyes and see a glint of hope, a small sliver of content happiness. He could see him as a new man, one that had not been condemned to twelve years in Azkaban but one that was strong, brave, a bright spot on a rainy day.

But now none of that mattered, because Sirius was gone, and therefore so were his smiles, his hope, and his contentment.

He couldn't shake the feeling in his heart. He felt like it was an open gaping wound, which was bleeding freely. Bleeding free with guilt and loss, and he couldn't stop the flow.

The prophecy that had now finally been brought to his attention did nothing but tread salt in his wound.

Now not only was he condemned to bring an outcome to this war, but condemned to face the knowledge that what ever happened between now and then, would be on his shoulders, would weigh on his heart.

For he was the only one that could stop it all. The only one able to stop the good from dying, the people from hurting, the evil from rising and spreading wide.

But it was too late for some. Dumbledore had left it too long, people had already suffered greatly and the second war had barely started, hell some still believed that there was now war.

Why did Dumbledore have to keep it from him? He had no right to interfere, no right to protect him from his future. He wasn't his father, and he wasn't his guardian. No that was Sirius' title, but no longer… he was no more.

Harry shut his eyes, hoping that the act would wipe away his pain, his guilt, his destiny. But when he opened them again nothing had changed, his wounded heart hadn't closed, his guild hadn't risen, his destiny was still there looming in the future, waiting to be fulfilled.

He lay still, ignoring his uncles bellowing voice, telling him that if he wanted dinner his arse better find its way down the stairs; ignoring everything.

Harry took a deep breath and rolled over on his side. He removed his glass and set them on his bedside cabinet, and shut his eyes.

He slowly drifted off thinking, knowing that everything was different… and that starting now his life could never be the same.

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Harry gasped and sat up quickly. He opened his eyes to see himself at Privet Drive not the Department of Mysteries. It was just a nightmare.

He picked up his glasses off his small bedside cabinet, and set them on his nose. Seeing more clearly now, he climbed out of his bed and shakily walked over to the window.

The stars were bright tonight, plastered on a midnight blue background of sky. Harry's lips curled in the smallest of smiles at the beauty of the sky. He forgot he was at Privet Drive, he forgot what his future was; he forgot everything to do with himself when he looked up at it. The sky was freedom from all the problems down at ground level, and that was a haven that he constantly seeked.

Having calmed himself down successfully, Harry turned away from the window. He squinted in the darkness looking at the small clock that was ticking on top of his bedside cabinet. 1:43 was what it read.

Harry shook his head, he knew that that was definitely no time to be getting up at, and that he would have to go back to sleep. But once he did what would he see? He didn't want to see images of his past anymore, he lived through it once, wasn't that enough?

Apparently it wasn't, for as he settled back down to sleep the dreams begun again. They pulled Harry on a warped tour of his past and his rather villainous imagination.

The following morning had not come soon enough for Harry. Who had tossed and turned in a restless sleep for the remainder of the night.

He woke up tired and emotionally drained from having to relive the horrifying, memories of his past.

Harry quickly took a shower and changed Hedwig's water before heading down to the kitchen for a spot of breakfast, though he wasn't sure if he could hold it down.

Breakfast was a tense and silent affair that morning. The warning the order had given the Dursley's just yesterday afternoon, had not seemed to affect the way the household ran all too much.

Harry was still given the chores, and they still treated him like a piece of dirt, bit more or less the verbal lashings had stopped. Not that this new tense silence was much better.

It was easily said by the deepening purple colour of Vernon's face that he was bursting to scream at him, but was trying his best to contain himself. He did not want any 'freaks' showing up on their doorsteps; one was enough.

Harry ate a piece of dried toast, which was all he was able to manage at the moment. He put his plate in the sink and started to walk out the kitchen, when Uncle Vernon loudly called him back.

'BOY!'

'Yes, Uncle Vernon?' Harry answered, gritting his teeth and trying to hold back the glare he wished he could shoot at his uncle.

'Mr. Finn will be expecting you to arrive at 1:00 this afternoon, and if I hear of any freakish hocus pokey, mark my words boy, you'll regret it,' Vernon said, the threat made clear in his voice.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, and headed out of the kitchen. He has forgotten for a moment that he was to be helping the new neighbor out in the afternoon, thanks to uncle Vernon.

He knew now exactly why he had been introduced to the elderly gentleman when he usually he was hidden from the neighbors at all costs. If he was at Mr. Finn's then he wasn't here, and that was the way the Dursley's –and himself- liked it.

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At one o'clock that afternoon, Harry left #4 Privet Drive and took a right before entering through the gate of #6; Mr. Finn's house.

He looked up at the house that was very similar to the Dursley's and sighed. He hoped that this was going to better than his time spent at #4, but he didn't hold his breath; he didn't want another let down.

After standing outside for about a minute, he walked up to the front steps where a welcome mat had been placed, well at least that were one step up from the Dursley's.

He knocked twice on the glass door, and waited for someone to come open it up for him.

'Come in,' he heard someone call faintly from inside.

Harry grasped the doorknob and turned it, successfully opening the door. A wisp of cool air past over him, as he came to stand-in the small hallway.

He looked around to see many shoes and coat hooks lining the walls. The walls themselves were a warm creamy colour, and a teal floral rug was spread over the camel carpeting. It was elegant in its own rights, but you could definitely tell the home belonged to an elderly person.

'Hello?' Harry called out into the silence.

'Through here boy, leave your shoes by the door. Don't want any mud trekking through the house,' he heard Mr. Finn reply to his call.

He did as the man had asked. Leaving his trainers by the door, he came through to what appeared to be the living room. It was dressed in a similar fashion to hallway.

Taking a quick glance around, Harry noticed several things that made this house different from the Dursley's. For one, the pictures on the walls were those of different airplanes and many black and white photos of what appeared to be Mr. Finn's family. A birdcage sat in the corner, and in it held a small yellow budgie that was currently flying about its confined area. The very air itself seemed more homelike to any Harry had breathed in at #4. These weren't the only difference the house had, he was sure, though they were the most noticeable.

'Do you approve?' Mr. Finn asked good-naturedly.

Harry turned around, and spotted Mr. Finn sitting in an armchair by the window. He was sipping a cup of tea, and munching on some Jacob's crackers. Harry nodded his head, not knowing if he should speak.

Setting his teacup down, Mr. Finn said, 'sit, sit please'

Already this muggle had shown him more kindness hen any other, with the exception of the grangers. Harry sat down on a beige coloured sofa that was left of the chair Mr. Finn occupied.

'Now then we best be getting ourselves introduced, shan't we? Name's Julius Finn, horrible first name in my opinion. Blame me mum for it… dear lady she was with a horrible sense in names… bless her. You can call me Finn though, most people do,' Finn said cheerily.

Harry looked at the man in front of him, stunned. Was this the same grumpy man he'd met last night? No, definitely not!

Apparently his shock and confusion could be read on his face. For Finn quickly explained himself and eased Harry's mind.

' I noticed quite quickly last night, that your uncle is quite hard on you, and I know enough about a household like that to know when to swap scripts,' Finn spoke.

Harry's face reddened at this statement, he hated that topic being brought up. To him not being able to stand up to his uncle's abuse was a great weakness, one that wouldn't help him anywhere in life.

'Not to worry my boy. Now I didn't catch _your_ name?' Finn spoke curiously.

'Um…its Harry…Harry Potter… but uh you can just call me Harry… sir' Harry stuttered out.

Finn smiled, his face wrinkling up more then it already did. 'Well then _Harry, _what say we get to know each other hmm?'

'Er… I thought I was supposed to be working?' Harry said quietly and uncertainly.

'Yes there will be time for that later, for now let us talk,' Finn said.

Waving away talk of work, he began telling Harry all about himself.

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Finn spent the next three hours telling Harry stories of his many years.

He told him about how when he was growing up, during world war two, times had been difficult. There were times when he and his family had only fried tulip and crocus bulbs to eat, and other times when he was allowed to very little if he were to stay safe.

This made Harry wonder how the children were going to be affected by the approaching war in the wizarding world. How bad was it going to get before the end?

Finn told him how his father had been killed early on in the war, flying planes over Germany. He also mentioned that two out of his three brothers had died since then of old age and illness. His only surviving siblings now were a younger sister and an older brother, both whom lived in other parts of Europe with their families.

He told Harry stories of his adventures with his brothers and sister. All the mischief they had gotten up to, the pranks they had played on unsuspecting victims. Finn revealed that the only prank he had ever failed at was one he tried playing on his sister. He explained how he had rigged up a contraption that would have chocolate pudding dumped on her head. She of course had found out what her brother had in store and had turned the tables on him. She was a smart little witch he said with laughter.

Harry laughed to, for the first time in a while. The man's spirit and passion when he talked seemed to affect anyone in the room. Harry would bet that even the slimy potions master would smile in the man's presence.

The stories he was listening to were not only interesting, but quite refreshing from all the horrible and torturing war stories the senior order members had told Harry. These ones for the most part were jovial.

Finn was quite a character. He was someone, Harry thought, who knew how to enjoy life in a way that few knew how. He had no care for hiding in his past, nor driving for his future. He was there and then, an in the moment type of man.

In Finn's presence, Harry had momentarily forgotten all about his problems with the prophecy and grief. He felt like a new person, one not with the past that should belong to someone far older than him, or a person with a daunting future.

Finn, himself had realized a few things quite quickly when he had met Harry Potter the previous night. For one, His eyes told more then what Harry himself might tell you. Two, this boy had a stubborn personality and an air of determination about him. And finally, this boy had the scar on his forehead, a lightening bolt, one that was legend.

**Disclaimer: You Think I'M J.K. ROWLING? YOU'RE NUTTERS! I DON'T OWN ANY OF WHAT YOU RECOGNISE!**

**A.N. please note some lines in this chapter were direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by: J.K ROWLING.**

**Just a quick post: I'm back, I know I have been away for too long and have probably left many of you disappointed with no updates, but school had me running on edge as well as the real world. This is my new story and I will be running with this for a while so those who wanted updates on other stories well ill get there but I'm kind of going through a long editing phase with them, I need to find out where their heading. So in the mean time I hope you all enjoy this one!**

**Cheers**

**And please forgive me**

**Petroleumjellydotone!**


	2. Chapter 2:Discovering

**Chapter Two:**

**Discovering**

For the following few days Harry continued with his new daily routine. He would wake up from a night filled with horrible dreams that tore at him, and then set to the chores Aunt Petunia had assigned him. Then at one o'clock sharp he would hurry out the door and over to Finns home for an afternoon of stories and an escape from his mind, which tormented him every chance he got with memories and discouraging thoughts. He would then leave Finn's after a delicious meal – Finn was a retired chef, but still new his way around a kitchen- and return to the Dursley's.

He had found out quickly that it was never Finn's intention to have him work. Harry suspected that Finn was merely lonely; he had wanted someone to talk with, and share his stories, of which had plenty.

The day after his first visit to #6, Harry returned to find Finn seated just like before- in his armchair with a cup of tea and cracker in hand. The difference to the scene this time was the steaming cup of tea sitting on the coffee table next to an Eckel's Cake; for Harry.

Finn had asked Harry if he had any stories to share, seeing as he had taken up all their time yesterday with his own stories.

Harry at this point was in a bit of a tight spot. All his happy or adventure filled memories were those of magical people, places, and ideas. He could hardly share these with a muggle; Finn would think he was off his rocker not to mention what his punishment with the ministry would be for revealing their world to a muggle.

He had opted to try and change a few of his stories to fit a muggle scenario, it proved tougher than it might seem. And Harry finally began to realize just how different the two worlds he lived in were.

The wizarding world, was magical yes, but also wrapped with secrets. In this day and age, you couldn't even go out in a public place without watching your back for trouble or muggles.

Muggle borns had to hide so much and live with so many secrets; he wondered how Hermione dealt with living in two worlds. Harry was just now finding out how hard that was. It had never been a problem for him before since his uncle and aunt knew of his world and he knew no one else that would care, until now that is.

While the wizarding world was a web of secrets and full with untrustworthy groups of people, the muggle world was out there in the open for anyone to see. The muggles themselves had no idea of the likes of wizards, yet wizards had a plain view of them. They weren't hiding. While the muggles also had their fair share of suspicious and troublesome people, those people didn't have wands in their hands. Yes the wands upped the stakes, they could be deadly to anyone, all it took was one curse. Guns of course could to do the same, but you could survive. The killing curse on the other hand, was something that barring himself, no one would or had escaped.

Another thing Harry had noticed since he had arrived at Privet Drive was that The Order was still guarding him under their invisibility cloaks and disillusionment charms. Not that he was expecting much less from Dumbledore. He just wished that they would take a step back, and stop coddling him.

He had thought about writing a scathing letter to Dumbledore telling him to bugger off, but knew it would do little good. Trashing the headmaster's office last year had gotten him nothing, Sirius was still dead, and he was brought no relief from his hardships.

No, if he wanted to get respect and stop being used as a hock in this war of their world, then he was going to have to show he was serious and mature, and not just some silly schoolboy who was prone to getting mixed up in things.

Harry knew he was underestimated by many people, they thought of him as teenager who had been lucky a few times, he believed Snape was president of that club, but he knew Dumbledore knew better.

Dumbledore was just being protective, he was trying to shield him from the evil on their doorstep, but Harry knew that he couldn't do that.

No matter what anyone said on the matter, he was involved in this war more so than anyone barring Voldemort. Dumbledore could no longer protect him from his destiny; he had for too long already. Also the headmaster could no longer stand as the leader of the light side in this war.

This fight was Harry's whether he liked it or not. Harry needed to lead whatever army would follow him into battle; Dumbledore could no longer be the face of good. He needed to pass the torch on, and realize that Harry was in control of Harry's life, no one else.

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About a week after his initial arrival at Privet Drive, Harry woke up from a nightmare concerning the end of his fourth year, when Cedric had died and Voldemort was had been reborn, with his forced assistance.

Harry shook his head to clear out those horrifying red eyes, when he heard a tapping at the window, an owl.

Putting his glasses on his face, Harry climbed out of the blankets he'd managed to entwine around himself in his efforts to escape his dreams last night, and headed over to the window to let in the owl.

As the bird flew in, Harry recognized it immediately. It was Pig, Ron's owl. He quickly ran after the small bird that was flying speedily around his small bedroom, in an effort to get the letter attached to its leg.

A few minutes later, Harry sat down on his bed, the letter in hand. He opened it, eager to see what it said, whether or not it would state that he could leave Privet Drive already.

It was from Ron.

_Dear Harry,_

_How ya doing mate, you all right? Hopefully you're not too bad off stuck there with the muggles this year. We've been trying to persuade Dumbledore to let you leave already but so far he has remained adamant that you have to stay with your relatives. Don't worry though, we won't give up!_

_We're here at Headquarters for the summer; mum and dad said it would be easier for them to get to the meetings and all that way. Though by using Fred and George's extendable ears we were able to eavesdrop on their conversation and found out that Dumbledore suspects The Burrow might be attacked soon. He said it would be best to relocate to headquarters for now. But its not too bad this summer, Dumbledore was able to hire some new house elves to run the place, you'll never guess who, and the place is a right side better than it was last summer._

_Hermione will be coming here as well soon can't wait for that. A summer just full of her asking: whether I've finished all my homework, and whether I have started studying for NEWTS. Honestly their two years away!_

_Well anyways, just wanted to ask how you where and tell you not to brood too much, it wasn't your fault you know Harry._

_Well hopefully see you soon_

_Your mate,_

_Ron._

Harry shook his head as he finished reading the letter, typical Ron. Though he had to say his friend knew how to avoid what he really wanted to say. He could tell that Ron was dying to know how he was doing, but respected Harry enough not to push him, unlike what Hermione would have asked him. He didn't blame her for that though; it was in her nature to be consistently curious and pushy.

He was glad that Ron had respected his space; he was not ready to talk about what had happened last year. It was just too soon.

But honestly, Ron needed to wake up and realize his feelings for Hermione. That was if he hadn't already. The boy was so obvious to others, and yet so oblivious to his own feelings.

Harry felt bad that Ron, and Ginny were stuck at Grimmauld Place for the summer. Having been there last summer, he knew just how little there was to do there. He felt so very connected to the reason they had to stay there in the first place.

If he did not have such a strong connection with the Weasley family, the Weasley's themselves wouldn't be threatened like they were being, or forced to leave their home. He could tell that Ron was upset about having to leave The Burrow, even though he had not said anything. The Burrow was Ron's home, and now he might not ever see it again.

Harry shook his head of these guilty thoughts, he couldn't very well push Ron and them all away now, and they would hardly allow that. Besides the damage was already done, Voldemort would not stop hunting their trail now, just because Harry had tried to act like he didn't care. Because both he and Voldemort knew he did care, he cared a lot.

Harry quickly took out a piece of parchment and a quill and replied to Ron's letter. It was just a short note telling him and the rest of the Weasley's not to worry about him, he was coping just fine with everything. The Dursley's were not acting nearly as horrible as they had in the past, and he had met a new friend at Privet Drive whom he had been spending his afternoons with. Harry also told Ron that he was sorry that he was stuck at headquarters, and told him not to worry about getting him out of Privet Drive; he'd be out of there soon enough and if not, he would get out by his own means.

After writing it all out on his piece of parchment he signed it and sent it on its way with Pig, who had been flying around the room nonstop since he had entered it.

Harry sighed and headed out of his bedroom door to go and get ready for yet another day at Privet Drive.

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That afternoon, at one o'clock, Harry headed over to Finn's like he had been doing for the past week.

He loved it when he was able to come over here; it was an escape for him. It allowed him to forget that he was connected to whole other world, and that in that world he played a huge part in whether or not it was to survive in tact.

He left his shoes by the door as he had become customary to doing, and headed through to the lounge where he knew Finn would be seated, ready to start telling his stories.

Sure enough Finn was sitting prepared to start chatting away.

'Hey Finn, how're you?' Harry greeted his newfound friend.

'Just fine me boy, just fine,' Finn replied with a grin on his face.

Harry sat down in the same seat he had sat in since he had first visited, right across from Finn.

The yellow budgie, which he had since found out was named Loba- which was an African name which meant 'to talk'- was squawking in the corner of the room. Finn had yet to teach it how to speak as it took them a long time to be able to say something and he hadn't yet found the time to teach it.

'So how have ya been, you alright, Harry?' Finn asked. He had noticed the circles that were continuously darkening under Harry's brilliantly green eyes, and was worried for his young friend.

'Fine, thanks,' Harry said, he hated lying to Finn but once again couldn't very well tell him what was bothering him.

'No your not, Harry. I can see it in your eyes. Come on now tell an old man what's wrong.'

Harry panicked, what was he going to tell him? He couldn't tell him the truth; he would just have to make something up.

'I – I just – miss my friends that's all, I haven't seen them in a while, and well I usually see them quite often, stupid really,' Harry lied, his panic ceased somewhat and he now just hoped that Finn would believe him.

'I see, well I'm sure that you will be able to see them soon,' Finn replied, he could tell that that wasn't what was bothering Harry but knew that whatever was he was probably- as a muggle- not allowed to know.

Harry almost sighed with relief; he didn't know if he would be able to hold this secret for the rest of his time here at Privet Drive, he could only hope that he could avoid these tough spots from now on.

'So what stories are you going to tell today?' Harry asked.

He loved hearing about Finns adventures with his siblings, his younger sister sounded like just as big of a character as Finn himself.

'Well today I thought that we'd take our chat outside on a walk. It's a fine day, and you could use some sun, you're far too pale,' Finn said as he stood up from his chair and started walking towards the front door.

'Okay then,' Harry agreed, blushing slightly, it was a nice day after all.

Once Finn had found his walking stick, and both he and Harry had their shoes on, they head out into Little Whinging for a walk and talk.

They had been walking for not even five minutes, and Harry was becoming increasingly aware that somebody was watching them.

As Finn yapped on, Harry looked around trying to spot someone anyone. There! Standing across the street a man dressed as a muggle garden keeper was standing watching him. Squinting in the sunlight Harry was able to tell just who it was. Remus Lupin.

_Damn the bloody Order!_ Harry thought, they had better keep their distance or Finn was sure to notice their presence. And then, well, everyone would have some explaining to do.

Remus seemed to realize this as well, and quickly abandoned his post and hid himself under the disillusionment charm, making sure that nobody watched him do so.

Remus then proceeded to follow Harry and the man whom he had yet to know the name of, at a closer distance.

The order was aware that Harry had been visiting the neighbors daily, but they were not aware of whom this guy was, or what he was doing with Harry. Their orders were to watch the house from the outside and wait for the opportunity when they could possibly receive more information.

Nobody had thought to just ask Harry, whom he was visiting. Remus had thought, but he followed his orders and stuck close to Harry.

He followed the two all the way along Privet Drive and further, listening closely to make sure that this man was not a Deatheater of Voldemort's and trying to lure him into a trap.

He was careful of his footing, making sure not to alert anyone to his presence. Though he knew Harry had seen him already, and was none to happy about him following them.

He took the chance to take a look at Harry and see how he seemed to be dealing with everything. It seemed that he was holding up okay, though his eyes still held considerable amounts of pain and even a little fear.

He too had noticed that Harry didn't seem to be sleeping too well, and wasn't getting out as much as he should be. He was worried about him.

Sirius had been his best friend for years; he knew what kind of pain Harry must be in, for he himself was in it as well.

But Remus knew that it wasn't just the pain of losing a loved one that Harry was dealing with. For not only was there pain and fear in his eyes but also large amounts of guilt. He hated that Harry was blaming himself; Remus had done the same when Lily and James had died, and he had been left alone. Now looking back it had made no sense for him to have done so, but he had nonetheless.

He hoped that Harry would bounce back from this eventually, he hoped that Harry would realize that Sirius wouldn't want him to live an unhappy, miserable life he would want him to be happy.

He broke away from his thoughts as he heard Harry laughing at what the elderly man had been saying.

He turned his head to take a closer look at the man and try and see if he could recognize his identity, or at the very least get his description to give back to The Order for further investigation.

He looked at the elderly man thoughtfully for a moment, he knew that face, but from where?

Suddenly it clicked, and Remus almost gasped. Wide eyed he stopped in his spot, letting Harry and the man walk on. He waited until they were a good distance away, before hurrying back down the street and over to Tonks -who he knew was hiding in the trees just outside #4.

He quickly told her to cover his shift before he apparated back to headquarters, to tell Dumbledore that he had identified the mystery man of #6.

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Remus arrived at Grimmauld place, and after quickly saying hi to those in the kitchen, hurried through the floo to Hogwarts.

He arrived in a blast of green flame, and stepped out, dusting himself off as he did so.

Dumbledore was stationed in his chair behind his desk, petting his beloved phoenix, Fawkes, on the head. He looked up when he saw Remus enter.

'Hello Remus, what can I do for you?' Dumbledore asked, he was smiling brightly and his eyes held their familiar twinkle.

'Professor Dumbledore, sir. I've discovered who is living at #6, and came to inform you.'

'Ah, yes. I too have found out who this mystery fellow is. It took me a little longer but finally the brain and the face clicked. And my dear boy, you no longer are a student here, call me Albus,' Dumbledore said, still smiling.

Remus nodded in agreement.

'Well should we tell-,' Remus began, but Albus cut him off.

'No, I believe Mr. Finn will need to do that himself'

'What about Harry shouldn't he know that-,' Remus started again but once more Albus stopped him.

'I believe that once again, Mr. Finn shall need to decide whether or not to tell him. Though I will not stop you from requesting Finn to tell Harry the truth,' Dumbledore spoke.

Remus knew the unasked favor that was hinted at by Dumbledore, and would readily agree, Harry needed to be told. And it didn't look as if Finn would be telling him any time soon.

'Well then, if that's all Remus I believe your shift just ended and you have other things to attend to, as do I'

'Yes of course profe- I mean Albus. Good afternoon sir,' Remus said before he headed back through the floo to Grimmauld Place.

Tonight he would be having a talk with Julius Finn.

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That night Harry left Finns after dinner, like always, and returned to the Dursley's home.

Luckily enough, Finn had not caught on to the Order following them, even though Tonks had once again managed to trip over her own two feet just meters away from where they were standing.

Harry lay down on his bed, after getting his pajama's on, absolutely knackered. These nightmares weren't letting up any, and it was really starting to annoy him.

Every night, he would settle down to sleep and then wake after hearing and seeing haunting and horrifying memories, and images. Anything from re-witnessing Sirius' and Cedric's deaths to making up vicious imaginary futures for his friends should he fail, was what he dreamt every night.

He was surprised that he had yet to scream out in fear and horror.

Harry wondered what was going on with Voldemort lately; he hadn't received any visions since the fake one he had sent him during his O.W.L.S.

Harry had yet to hear of anything of great enormity occurring. Harry suspected that Voldemort was just biding his time, and that when he did hit he would hit big.

He sighed, and rolled over on his side. He took his glasses off and set them on the cabinet next to his bed. Shut his eyes and condemned himself to yet another night of haunted sleep.

That night, everything he was seeing had become too much for even Harry to handle, and he screamed, a painful, tortured scream for help…

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Finn shut the door after walking Harry out, and sighed. It had been yet another day that he had been in that boy's presence and kept his secret.

Harry he had come to find was such a bright young man; he had many good qualities about him. He was brave- more so than Finn himself-, kind-hearted, and so selfless that it made Finn feel so ashamed for what he had done to his family.

Finn wondered how in the world, Harry had been able to turn out with such a strong character after growing up the way he had. His parents taken from him so early in life, before even knew them really. And then shipped off to live with an overweight Uncle and Snotty aunt, neither whom gave a rat's arse what happened to Harry. He admired Harry all the more for it.

Finn walked through to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of tea from the kettle. He then carried it through to the living room where he nearly had a heart attack.

There sitting on the sofa, waiting for his return was a man he had not seen for fifteen or so years, and back then he looked far younger. He recalled the face, and with that the name; Remus Lupin.

'Hello Finn,' Remus spoke first.

Finn sat down in his chair and set his tea down.

'Well I figured it would only be a matter of time before one of you popped round. Hello Remus,' Finn replied, his face showed a little fear.

The last time he was in the presence of capable Wizards, was a time he wished he could forget.

'Yes, well it took us a little longer than we would have hoped to identify you. You've changed Finn.'

'As have you'

They stared at each other for a little bit, before they both smiled.

'It's good to see you; it's been far too long'

'Yes it has me boy, yes it has. Well I 'spect that you didn't come all this way to say hello to an old man, so out with it then. What do you need, hmmh?' Finn Replied.

'Well, the reason is quite simple. I know you are aware that the young man whom you spend your afternoons with, is in fact Harry Potter'

Finn nodded, to show that Remus was right.

'Right, well I came to ask a favor. I don't know the reason as to why you have returned, and I am not in right of knowing first. But I think that Harry has the right to know. He's been through more than he should have been, and had far too many things kept from him. I doubt you would want to hurt him more by keeping this from him too,' Remus reasoned.

Finn sighed; he had a feeling that he might be asked to do that.

'Remus, you are right. Harry deserves to know who I really am, and he shall but – well I'm just not as courageous as are young mutual friend.'

'Not many are.'

'Not to worry Remus, I'll tell him the truth, he deserves the truth.'

'Good then, I knew I could count on you'

'So, what's been happening with you, eh?' Finn asked, curious as to what the young werewolf was up to nowadays.

'Too much, and nothing at all really,' Remus said, a sad look crossed over his face. It was one Finn had seen all too often on Harry's.

'You're as readable as young Harry, Remus. Tell an old man what's going on, I've seen Harry wear that same expression, but can't get a thing out of him. What's happened, eh?'

'Nothing gets by you, Finn. Its Sirius, he recently perished. And well it's been hard on us all,' Remus said a shake in his voice.

At this Finn was confused.

'But Remus, he deceived-,' Finn began.

'No he didn't. It was Peter, Finn. He betrayed us all, and Sirius paid _his_ punishment,' Remus spoke sadly.

'Why I never… I'm deeply sorry Remus. Sirius was a good man, a great wizard. It is terrible to hear he has left us,' Finn claimed, shocked that yet another fine young man had been taken.

'Yes it is,' Remus agreed quietly, before he looked at his watch and continued, 'well there is an order meeting that is about to begin, and I must attend.'

'Oh yes certainly, do stop back sometime. It was nice to speak with you again Remus'

'You as well, Finn. And don't forget to tell Harry'

'Don't worry, I won't'

'Oh and Finn-'

'Yes'

'Harry's not the only one that deserves to know,' Remus finished, a meaningful look in his eye.

Finn thought of this for a moment before agreeing with a nod of his head. He was right, she deserved to know.

**A.N. and so ends chapter two. Well thank you all so much so far for reading and reviewing. I was afraid no one would. So please tell me what you thought of this next bit, and what you think of Finn. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. And if you have the time please leave me a nice long bit of feedback, as it makes an authors day, and I really enjoy hearing what you have to say whether its to criticize or not! Thanks again,**

**Cheers**

**Petroleumjellydotone.**


	3. Chapter 3:Reunions

**Chapter Three:**

**Reunions**

**LAST SCENE:**

'_Harry's not the only one that deserves to know,' Remus finished, a meaningful look in his eye._

_Finn thought of this for a moment before agreeing with a nod of his head. He was right, she deserved to know._

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

'Say Remus, do you think I could possibly tag along to that meeting?' Finn said after making up his mind. If he was going to see her, he would have to do so as soon as possible or he would lose his nerve.

Remus smiled, 'of course Finn. But I'm going to have to speak with Dumbledore first.'

'No problem, so how is the old fellow?' Finn asked as they headed out the front door and began walking down the street.

'Well you know Dumbledore.'

'Aye I do, he still headmaster?'

'Yes he is. And good thing too, Voldemort would have surely captured it by now otherwise'

'Voldemort? But I thought he- '

'You have years of catching up to do, Finn,' Remus pointed out.

That topic was closed for the time being, and they continued down the road.

'Say where are we going, my friend? Last I checked this wasn't where Hogwarts was located, nor if I recall can you apparate into the grounds,' Finn spoke up.

'Good memory. I'll use the floo out of Arabella Figg's home to Hogwarts, and then return to collect you. Then I'll apparate us to headquarters'

'I have lived here for a good few weeks now, and had yet even to realize Figgy was living so close by. Why I haven't spoken to her in years, not since-'Finn trailed off, those times, those memories still haunted him sometimes.

'Well you'll have the chance to speak with her soon enough, here we are,' Remus said, carefully avoiding that painful subject, he knew even after all these years it was still a raw memory, same as lily and James' death was for him.

Remus led Finn up, a small path to the front door of Arabella Figg's. Remus was glad that did not attend the summer meetings- as they needed to make sure she was home incase something happened with Harry- otherwise they would have to find a different way of getting to Dumbledore.

He knocked on the door, twice, and then waited. A minute or so later, a small head of an elderly woman peered through the window, making sure it was safe to open the door.

When Figg saw who it was, she quickly opened the door and welcomed them in hurriedly.

'Why Remus, what are you doing here? The order meeting is going to start soon, and I was just heading up to bed,' Arabella asked before turning to look at the other man, whom had entered with Remus.

She gasped when she recognized him, 'what? When? How did you- goodness gracious.'

'Hello Figgy, it has been awhile hasn't it?' Finn asked, with a small smile.

'Why, however did you end up here Finn?'

'That's a long story, for another time, and I believe Remus here needed to ask something of you.'

'Yes, Arabella. I need to use your Floo please.'

'Why of course dear, go right ahead.'

'Thank you, I'll be back in a few minutes Finn,' Remus said before he took some Floo Power and proceeded to shout out the address.

As Remus left through a blaze of green flames, Finn and Figg stood there awkwardly waiting for the other to speak.

'Well how have you been, Figgy?'

'Quite good Finn, I've been watching over Harry for the past fifteen years, as my new assignment from the order. He has become quite a good young man over the years, so much of his parents are in him yet he is on his own level at the same time'

'That he is, figgy, that he is'

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Remus steadied himself as he landed in Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts, for the second time that night.

'Professor Dumbledore, are you here?'

'Remus, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Albus?' Dumbledore asked from where he was stroking his phoenixes' head.

'Sorry Albus.'

'Quite all right, son. So how did your little meeting go?'

'Quite well, sir. In fact he wishes to be allowed to come along to the meeting. There is someone he wishes to speak with.'

Dumbledore smiled, 'of course, I wouldn't want to prolong this reunion much further than it has already been prolonged. So I imagine you have come for the address?'

Albus took out a small bit of parchment and quickly scratched down the address to headquarters, and handed it to Remus.

'Good luck, we both best be off, before we are both late, after you,' the headmaster said kindly.

'Thank you, _Albu_s' Remus said before he left through the Floo, back to Mrs. Figg's.

Dumbledore left directly afterwards, flooing to #12 Grimmauld Place.

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Soon enough Remus had returned to Mrs. Figg's, where they said goodbye to Arabella before Remus side-along apparated them to the empty lot (in Finn's eyes) that was #12 Grimmauld Place.

'Here read this,' Remus told Finn, handing him a slip of parchment.

Finn knew enough about wizard protection spells to know that he was reading what would allow him to pass through the Fidelius Charms shield. He read it quickly and then looked up to see a battered black-painted front door appear along with a house which exterior looked quite grimy.

Remus quickly set the parchment on fire, burning all evidence of an address.

'Quickly let's get inside, before someone sees us,' Remus said quickly already hurrying to the front door.

Finn followed and soon enough they were standing in the hall of the Ancestral House of Black.

No sooner had they shut the door then did the portrait of Mrs. Black start wailing like no tomorrow.

'FILTHY MUGGLES AND HALF-BREEDS SETTING FOOT IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! VILE SCUM-'Mrs. Black screamed.

Quickly Remus moved forward and forced the curtains close, which seemed to muffle the noise though the woman in the portrait continued to scream, it seemed she had realized that a muggle was in her house, and was dreadfully insulted by it.

The loud screams, had seemed to alert the order, whom barring Lupin and a few others were all present downstairs.

Remus and Finn waited patiently as many footsteps traveled up the stairs from the basement kitchen.

Soon enough a great mass of highly skilled wizards and witches were all crammed in the entrance hall, wands out. Apparently they had expected trouble.

When they realized who in fact had been at the door, they lowered their wands with apologies in their eyes, they had been about to curse them.

Then slowly members who had been in the order the first time round started to recognize Finn, who was standing there looking only at one particular witch, and she was staring straight back, slightly pale and her jaw dropped from shock.

'Hello Minnie,' Finn spoke, a small nervous smile on his face.

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Ron and Ginny were sitting in the room that Ron and Harry had shared last summer, quietly cursing the order for once again shutting them out of a meeting.

They knew by now that they weren't going to be able to sit in on the meeting, but they couldn't help but want to know what was going on out there in the world. They had the right to that knowledge didn't they? They were citizens of the world currently at war and any knowledge about what was happening could help them protect themselves and others from the present dangers out there.

But no, their mother and Dumbledore both did not want them involved. _Your too young, _is what they said, they both scoffed at that.

The amount of times that they had been pulled in to the dark happenings of these times was a great deal more than half the order members. They had seen their fair share of what was occurring and they just wanted to help.

'I wish they'd finish up down there, I'm hungry,' Ron whined.

'Stop thinking about your bloody stomach for once, this is more important than your need for food. Aargh why can't they just let us sit in on the meeting really, we're involved in this war too,' Ginny rambled on, as she paced the room back and forth in a temper.

'Calm down Ginny, its no use. We've been trying to get into those bloody meetings since summer started and have yet to manage it. Anyways, I don't want think it would be wise to try to sneak a listen tonight, mums still made about the fireworks we set off yesterday at lunch, this'll put her over the edge!'

'I'm so sick of this though, Ron. If Harry were here he wouldn't stand for this. Why should we have to?'

'yeah, well Harry's not here right now, and if he were, I'm sure Dumbledore or Mum would stop him from getting in as well,' Ron replied, slightly grumpy that his best mate was still stuck with the muggles, it was quite boring here without his friend to talk and hang out with.

Just then they heard a commotion down stairs, they stopped talking for a moment to listen. When they discovered that it was just Mrs. Black's portrait wailing they continued talking forgetting all about the regular occurrence of the household.

A few minutes later, they heard another shrill yell they both knew, though it wasn't Mrs. Black's.

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'JULIUS FINN WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! FIFTEEN YEARS WITH NOT ANY WORD FROM YOU AND THEN YOU SUDDENLY TURN UP ON THE DOORSTEP WITH JUST A 'HELLO MINNIE' AND YOU KNOW I HATE THAT NAME!' Minerva McGonagall erupted.

She was unaware that the order- which consisted of her friends and past students- had all just heard her bellow and curse, something that was not entirely in her nature; as far as they knew.

Finn had seemed quite ready for his sister to blow up at him, and had seen fit to protect his ears from her shrill yell.

He tried to look innocent, but knew that she was right. He had probably just given her the fright of her life, and for once it was something he had not intended to do.

'Sorry minn- Minerva,' He stuttered out her full name at her warning glare, which even after fifteen years of not seeing her, he remembered all too well.

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Ron and Ginny, after hearing their transfiguration professor's, out of character display, quietly crept out of their room and watched the reunion of brother and sister from the top of the stairwell well hidden from their mother's view.

They heard an old man apologize to her though they did not recognize the face or voice, but it was certain that McGonagall sure knew him.

What McGonagall said next made both their eyes widen, 'oh Finny, I've missed you.'

They were surprised to see a hint of tears in McGonagall's eyes and it made them wonder even more who this man was. Ron reacted to the name though he had heard it somewhere before, but at the present moment he couldn't remember from where.

'I've missed you to sis,' Finn spoke.

That solved that mystery for them, and made their eyes widen even further. McGonagall had a brother!

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Minerva was practically frozen in shock after seeing her brother standing before her, after fifteen years of no contact. She had no idea that he was even still alive!

After his abrupt, yet almost understandable take off-which she still did not completely understand- here he was standing in front of her.

After screaming at him a good bit and telling him that she had missed him, she did probably the most uncharacteristic of all the things she had displayed tonight.

Minerva went straight up to her brother and swept him into a bone-crushing hug, much like the ones Mrs. Weasley gave her children and Harry, and began to cry into his shoulder.

'Don't cry Minnie, what happened to the fun loving prankster who swore that she had never cried, and never intended to, hmm?' Finn asked in a teasing tone, knowing that if it weren't for trying to save his small ounce of pride he would probably be crying as well.

'Oh shut it you,' Minerva replied with a smile, 'and don't call me Minnie.'

"Well hold up just a minute there!' Fred spoke up, interrupting the sibling's reunion.

'McGonagall has a brother!' George continued.

'Even more than that she was a prankster!' Fred spoke again.

'I think I am going to faint,' George said and fell back into his twins arms, which made Fred stumble from the added weight.

Seeing as the moment was broken, the Order members who had known Finn stepped forward to greet him.

Finn had lost a bit of the nervousness now, but knew that once he and Minerva got down to discussing this, he was done for! But for now, he greeted those he had once known, his old friends and acquaintances.

There was one person, who he had known quite well back when he was among wizards, but who was standing back from the rest of the group. He looking at the floor and had gone even paler in the face then he usually was. A shadow of a memory past over him, from _that _night, he had been there too.

'Ahem,' the quiet voice of Albus spoke. It was a wonder how it was heard above all the noise, but it was.

The hall quieted down and Albus spoke again, 'As splendid as this reunion is, there is still business to attend to and we don't want to disturb the children upstairs.'

As he said this his eyes flickered to where he knew Ginny and Ron were watching from the top of the stairs, luckily their mother hadn't noticed and after his announcement they had quickly scattered.

'Right you are, Albus. Let's get on with the meeting then I believe Severus you were just about to speak about Voldemort's activities,' Moody said with an interest in his voice, he was always eager to hear the dark lords plans so he could find a way of destroying them.

Snape who had been standing off to the side and his normal expression of a scowl had changed to one of guilt and surprise. The old Slytherin muttered under his breath, and followed Moody back down to the kitchens.

'Well Finn, would you like to stay for the meeting or shall someone bring you back home now?' Albus asked a twinkle in his eye.

Finn had once been quite a close friend of Dumbledore's and despite not having seen him for fifteen years he still considered him to be a close friend.

'Well if it's possible, do you think I can stay?'

'Of course you may Finn, it's been a little while but you're still an order member in my books,' Dumbledore replied as he led the way down to the kitchen.

Following him were Finn and Minerva, and just before they entered the kitchen Minerva pulled Finn back and mumbled, 'we'll talk about this later'

Finn gulped, and reluctantly nodded, before they both headed through the doors and settled into the meeting.

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The following morning, Harry woke from yet another restless night of sleep. This night had to have been the worst so far, all the memories and twisted things his mind had made him witness had built up into one long event, which had ended with him screaming.

It wasn't fair, why was it that his friends and relatives could all sleep through the night, dreaming of quidditch and… normal things and he was stuck watching deaths and horrible torture. But at the same time Harry wouldn't wish this on anyone he knew, not even his overweight arse of an Uncle, no one should have to see such horrific things every time they shut their eyes.

Harry yawned and stretched out his tired limbs, and then proceeded to go take his shower. He couldn't wait until one o'clock when he could go over to Finn's and begin to forget again.

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Finn rolled out of his bed, he had finally gotten home at about one in the morning, and well he was not a youth any longer and it weighed on him.

The order meeting from the night before was of standard, nothing to enormous had occurred but as always the order never undervalued any of the issues discussed. They unlike Voldemort knew that they had to consider every possibility before taking any road of action.

Finn was at first surprised to hear that Voldemort was back, he had believed for sure that he was gone for good; pity. Remus had briefly told him a little ways in to the meeting that Harry had witnessed and was forced to aide in Voldemort's return. He had also mentioned that Harry and Voldemort had met numerous times over the last several years.

The thought that Harry had been battling a dark, fully-grown wizard for years was astounding and horrible to have to picture, surely he hadn't escaped that unharmed in some way. Yet Harry hid it well, with the exception that his eyes were saying he was in pain and was even somewhat haunted by his experiences.

Minnie and he had not yet gotten around to discussing what needed to be discussed. He knew that the further he put it off, the madder she would be with him for leaving. But right now he had someone else to tell, and he had to figure out a way of doing so with not much time.

Another thing that was discussed at the meeting was for Harry's arrival at Headquarters, they had talked about his means of arrival and when in fact he would be coming. And by the end of the meeting had a firm date set.

Finn knew one thing, Harry would be getting at least one owl this morning.

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Finn's knowledge had proved to be correct to an extent, for when Harry had returned from his shower Pig was walking about his bed; in fact there were two owls.

Harry moved forward and opened what looked Pig's letter first, the other owl he didn't recognize.

He was surprised to see that it was not Ron's messy scrawl on the parchment, but Hermione's neat and curvy letters.

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to send you this, but I had to wait for Ron to send Pig to me, so I had an owl to use. And Ron being Ron forgot!_

_Anyways, how are you holding up Harry? I hope you're not moping about in your bedroom, Sirius' memory deserves more than that. Also, I hope you realize that it wasn't your fault, what happened was a tragic thing, but you can't blame yourself! Promise you won't!_

_I hope your relatives aren't being as harsh this year, I know that they have been a bit –well you know, in the past. _

_I'm at home right now, just spending some time with my parents. They really miss me when I'm away at school and I miss them, so we've been spending a lot of time together. I haven't told them about the war or anything that's been going on, I'm scared they'll try and take me out of Hogwarts or something. I don't want to go back to the regular muggle education it's hardly as interesting as arithmancy and transfiguration._

_The order have arranged for me to come spend the rest of the summer with the Weasley's at headquarters in a week or two so hopefully you'll be there by then. I do hope you and Ron have been doing your homework, you can't start 6th year off with none of the assignments completed!_

_Well I've got to go but hopefully I'll see or hear from you soon,_

_Take care Harry, _

_Your Friend,_

_Hermione. _

Harry thought over Hermione's letter as he finished up reading it, he felt bad that she thought she couldn't tell her parents about her life. She shouldn't have to hide all that, it was probably bad enough hiding that she was a witch from her muggle friends.

He ignored the entire paragraph about Sirius for the moment, he knew she was just trying to help heal him, but the truth was he wasn't ready to hear it all yet. He wasn't ready to actually deal with the pain, it was just easier for him to just forget it. He watched it over and over at night, and then when he was spending time with Finn and talking about muggle things, his mind temporarily erased all those thoughts from his mind.

He took out some parchment and sent a reply along.

_Dear Hermione,_

_The muggles are treating me quite well this year actually, thanks for asking._

_I've been spending my afternoons with the new neighbor who has moved in next door, and I believe he has more stories to tell then any book you might ever pick up!_

_I think you should tell your parents Hermione, it's no use trying to hide it they'll find out eventually and it would be better if they heard it from you, don't you think? Oh well that's just my opinion, but I'm sure that if your scared they'll take you out of Hogwarts you could always ask Dumbledore or McGonagall to assure them your safe there._

_I think that I'll be off to headquarters soon as well, I don't know when yet, no one's told me anything about coming to get me yet, I hope that I won't be hear the whole summer._

_Well anyways I have some more mail to read so I'll see you soon_

_Harry._

Harry reread the letter, before sending it off with Pig. He found that the whole note was in general quite more open of him then he usually allowed. S

Shaking his head of the thought, he moved towards the other owl. Who was waiting patiently on his bed, licking its feathers clean?

Harry untied the note from its leg, and opened it up.

It was from Ron, the owl was obviously one of the order's.

_Harry-_

_Be ready for a five a.m. wake up call tomorrow! We're springing you, well the order is._

_See ya soon,_

_Ron._

A smile appeared on Harry's face, he was going back unfortunately back to Grimmauld Place but it was just another thing to deal with, and he thought he could manage it.

He looked at the clock on the side of his bed and realized he had a few hours to kill before going to Finn's, and figured he might as well start packing.

He decided to send Hedwig off to Grimmauld Place early to save her having to journey there by whatever means the Order was planning to use.

He pulled all his things into a pile on his bed, and began folding them carefullybefore placing them in his trunk- again he had time to kill.

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Finn paced his living room nervously, something he rarely did. Harry would be arriving any minute now, and well the truth was about to come out, again!

Just then he heard the front door open and Harry call out, 'Finn, you here'

'y-yes in here Harry,' he stuttered back.

Harry walked through, and despite the still darkened rings around his eyes he looked happy.

'Hey Finn, how ya doing?' Harry asked with a grin on his face.

'I'm just fine Harry, how are you?' Finn answered, going through the beginnings of their every day talk as best he could.

'I'm great Finn. I'm going, my friend just er… called and said I can come stay with him now, I know that means that I won't be seeing you for a while which of course I don't like, but no more Dursley's. Can you believe it! I thought it would take me ten times longer to get out of there but only a few weeks,' Harry rambled, which was quite unusual of him

All the while, Finn had been trying to get Harry's attention by calling his name over and over, if he didn't tell him soon he didn't think he would be able to.

'HARRY!' He finally called loudly.

'What is it?' Harry asked, concerned; Finn looked quite nervous about something.

'I need to tell you something, it's important'

'Okay then, go ahead,' Harry said happily.

After quite a long minute of silence, Finn spoke up.

'There's no great way of telling you this Harry but you see… I…em… I know – I know who you really are. I know that you're a wizard and I know of your world in fact I used to even be a part of it and well I figured that you should know, I didn't think that we both should have to keep that secret any longer,' Finn spoke quickly, searching Harry's face for a reaction.

Harry himself had gone quite pale, before his face turned red with anger, ' All this time, you've known who i am? You lied to me. Your working for Dumbledore, aren't you? He sent you to watch over me because the Order wasn't enough! I trusted you! And all this time you've been reporting back to the Order about me, haven't you? How could you do that to me, Finn?'

After his small, yet loud, accusation, Harry tore out of #6, ignoring Finn's calls for him to come back.

Finn, himself, sighed and sat down with his head in his hands. That wasn't exactly how he had wanted things to go, he really had botched that one up!

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Harry raced up the stairs of the Dursley's in a rage, and threw open his door.

Slamming it shut after he entered, Harry fell onto his bed, and turned his face into his pillow, shaking with rage at Dumbledore and Finn had both betrayed him in one way or another.

Dumbledore had once again gone behind his back and kept things from him, and Finn had helped him do it.

He couldn't help but be as angry as he was, he felt so stupid that he hadn't realized or picked up on it, surely it was obvious.

Harry lay like that for a few hours, just sighing and letting his anger and irritation about the constant watching consume him.

Before he knew it, had fallen asleep but tonight his anger had prevented his regular nightmares and he had an almost restful night sleep, for once.

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Something was shaking him, and a gentle voice was calling for him to wake up.

Annoyed, he finally opened his eyes into his pillow; his glasses had been digging into his face and left his surrounding skin slightly red from the pressure.

He squinted into the light of a wand tip, to see Remus standing above him.

'Harry, hurry up we have to leave. We can't be here to long, _they _might be watching,' Remus said quickly, checking the window for any sign of trouble on the road.

Harry opened his eyes more, and looked at the clock. To see that it was about 5:10 in the morning, he had been asleep for quite a while and with no nightmares at that.

'Where are the others,' Harry said referring to the other members of his guard.

'There waiting for us down stairs, now we really need to be going,' Remus said hurriedly, leading the way into the hall.

Before Harry knew it, he was flying his recently returned Firebolt out of Privet Drive, under the disillusionment charm, and with 7 guards surrounding him.

His excitement at being free from the Dursley's, was not as grand as it had been earlier. He was still furious with Dumbledore, Finn, and the Order, but knew that he would rather be angry and be away from the Dursley's then stuck there for longer because he blew his escape plan by yelling and giving them all away.

After many detours, that Moody had insisted on, they finally had arrived outside #12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry stared up at the shabby-looking house, and almost wished he could turn around and head back to the Dursley's. He wouldn't have much of a chance to forget what had happened if he was here. Though he did not really have that option back at Privet Drive now either, now that he had discovered Finn to be one of the Order and not just a regular muggle.

'Come on then Harry, we best be getting inside,' Remus said considerately, he knew that it would be hard for Harry to be here, he himself found it difficult.

He knew that Harry had just found out about Finn, though he seemed far too angry about it. Remus hoped that Harry wouldn't hide it all away; he had been making progress with his grief when he was talking with Finn, or so it seemed.

But, now that he looked closely at Harry, he could tell that the same pain still lingered and the bags under his eyes had only darkened since he had last caught a glimpse of him.

Harry followed Moody and Tonks, up to the front door where they were trying their best to open it with out alerting Mrs. Black, they should have known that that would be impossible.

Harry entered the house, the screams of Mrs. Black piercing his ears. Harry scowled at the portrait, as moody and Tonks moved to close the curtain back around it.

He remembered quite suddenly that just last year, upon his arrival, it had been Sirius that had shut those curtains and told his mother to shut up. This was going to much more difficult to handle than he had originally thought.

'Harry? Is that you?' The mothering voice of Mrs. Weasley asked from the top of the basement steps.

Harry looked up at her and gave her a small smile; in return she walked up to him and pulled him into one of her famous bone-crushing hugs.

Hesitating, Harry slowly hugged her back.

'Oh thank goodness you made it back safely, I was so worried that something might happen. But your okay, right Harry?' Mrs. Weasley asked in a concerned voice.

'I'm Fine, thanks. Just a bit tired,' Harry lied, he wasn't fine and he was certainly not tired.

'Of course dear, why don't you go upstairs and get a few more hours sleep. We'll talk later,' She said, smiling at him though her eyes still held concern in them.

'Thanks see you in a bit then,' Harry said, before he climbed the stairs to the room that he had and Ron had shared last summer.

'Of course dear,' Mrs., Weasley replied, her worry-filled gaze following him up the stairs before she led the guard members down to the kitchen for a cup of tea.

Harry sat on his bed, staring up at the grimy ceiling; Sirius was all he could think about. Avoiding the subject for the past couple weeks, had been wonderful he had been able to forget all the guilt and pain at Sirius' absence. And now he realized that that was all he was doing, forgetting it, but it was still there and it still hurt just as much if not worse. He felt as if by ignoring it he was offending Sirius' memory in a way which just added to his already guilty conscience.

He sat deep in thought for what felt like hours but was probably only about forty-five minutes before he let his eyes close and fell asleep. He guessed he was more tired than he thought, though unlike earlier his dreams weren't merciful.

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Finn was sitting at his chair, in the living room, reading the morning paper like always. He was thinking about Harry and how much he had screwed up telling him the truth. He felt horrible about it, not only did he give Harry the wrong impression but he had lost Harry's trust and that had meant so very much to him.

Suddenly, he heard a great crack behind him, that almost had gave him a heart attack. He whipped around to see Albus and Minnie standing there trying to spot him.

'Merlin, you two what are you doing sneaking up on me like that?' Finn asked.

'My apologies, Finn,' Dumbledore said kindly.

Minerva was too busy looking around her brother's home, to make sure it was suitable for him. The amount of houses she had seen man go through was unbelievable!

'Is it worthy of your presence dear Minnie,' Finn asked teasingly.

'Oh shut it Finn, and don't call me Minnie!' McGonagall spoke back, she sounded years younger than she was.

'As much as I love to hear you two squabble, Finn I was wondering, if you could tell me how Harry is doing?' Albus asked.

Finn suddenly became frustrated with Dumbledore. He was putting him in exactly the position that Harry had accused him of being; a spy, set to watch Harry and report back his findings. Well it wasn't going to happen; he wasn't going to let it.

'Why don't you ask him yourself Albus? Its time you learnt that Harry is a person too; he is not just someone you can toss about and guard as if he were a prisoner. And if you really must know how he is doing, I would say he is pretty pissed off with everyone right now, and if you want to know why than I suggest you open your eyes and ears and ask him!' Finn spoke loudly.

Albus looked quite surprised at Finn's outburst –as did Minerva- but stayed silent for a few minutes and thought it over.

'You are right Finn; I have not been considering Harry's feelings here. I apologize, it was not intended I assure you,' Albus replied quietly.

'I'm not the one who needs that apology, Albus.'

'Right, right, of course, well then I must be on my way and I am sure that you two have a lot to catch up on so , good luck,' and Dumbledore apparated out, heading for the ministry to attend to a few errands.

'So fess up Finny, I want to hear everything,' Minerva said with a glare on her face and her arms crossed impatiently.

Her appearance just then reminded him so much of her when they were both younglings.

'Are you sure you want to hear it all, cause fifteen years is a hell of a lot to cover in-'

'Oh I assure you I have all the time in the world, now start talking,' Minerva interrupted.

And so Finn began his story, this one was probably the most painful and life changing one he had told yet.

**A.N. okay then, well that's it for chapter three, what did you think? Sorry it took me a few days extra to get it updated but some of the parts of this chapter I was having a bit of trouble writing and it probably shows, but I hope that you guys were a little surprised with the sister/brother, Finn/ McGonagall thing and that you don't hate that relationship. **

**Well then, please, please, please, tell me what you think in a nice long review, tell me some of your favorite parts or your favorite character so far, anything that has a bit of feedback in it, good or bad I don't mind really, anything you feel like typing out!**

**Thanks as always**

**Cheers**

**Petroleumjellydotone.**


	4. Chapter 4:Explanations

**Chapter Four:**

**Explanations**

Harry awoke from his short slumber some hours later, in a cold sweat. Being at Sirius' childhood home seemed to make his nightmares that much more painful to witness.

He sighed; he had been doing that a lot lately, before he began getting up and stretching till he heard his back crack.

Looking over at Ron's bed, he realized it was empty. Mrs. Weasley had probably told them not to disturb him; otherwise Ron would have surely woken him up by now.

He went over to his trunk, which had assumed had been brought up after he had gone to sleep; he got his clothes out and went to take a shower. When he was done, it would be time to greet everyone, something he didn't know if he was entirely looking forward to.

Soon enough he had showered and dressed and was losing the battle he was having with his hair, trying to get the back of it to lie flat. He should have learnt by now it was an impossible feat.

'Mum sent me up to check and see if you were awake yet, as you have been up here quite a while , but now I understand that you were attempting to do the impossible, well your gonna have to try harder than that mate,' a voice called from the doorway.

Startled, Harry turned around to see a gangly, flaming red haired boy leaning against the dark wood frame, a smirk upon his lips. It was Ron.

'Oh shut up,' Harry replied, before smiling back at his friend.

'Good to see ya, mate, it's been bloody horrible with just Ginny for company around here,' Ron said, slapping Harry on the shoulder to greet him.

'It's good to see you too, Ron,' Harry replied.

'Well we'll talk later but right now, your breakfast is about to be eaten by the twins if you don't get down stairs quickly, and you can't have that now, could you?'

Harry smiled, that's Ron for you always thinking about food even if he wasn't the one set to eat it.

The two friends made their way down the staircase and into the hallway. They remained silent in the hall, as not to alert Mrs. Black, and made there way downstairs to the kitchen were lots of noise seemed to be coming from.

For some unknown reason, Harry felt nervous about seeing everyone again, which was slightly odd seeing as he had seen them all just two or three weeks before. But, in that time he felt he had changed quite a bit, things were different now. He had new goals, and had become slightly adapted to the fact that he was even less normal than he believed himself to be.

Without another thought, they both entered the kitchen and the talking ceased almost immediately.

Everyone looked up, to see he and Ron enter and after a moment of silence everyone greeted him and Mrs. Weasley beckoned for him to sit down.

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Back at Privet Drive, Finn was just finishing up explaining himself to Minerva, and telling her what he had been up to in the last fifteen years.

'And shortly after that, I decided to move closer to the London area and the closest affordable property I could find was here in Little Whinging, it came as a complete surprise when I found out that young Harry was my neighbor, but a delightful one it was, so that's it. So can you forgive your brother?' Finn finished.

Minnie who was sitting across from, holding a cup of now cold tea in her hand, just stared at him with a look of sorrow and understanding.

She knew that it had been hard for Finn, to adjust to the Wizarding World in general but after Cassie died, she had no idea how hard it was on him. She knew that he would be upset but she hadn't known until now why his grief had caused him to leave the world that he had grown to love so much.

'Oh Finnie, I'm so sorry, of course I can forgive you. I just wish that you could have told me all this back then,' Minerva said nearly close to tears.

'It doesn't matter anymore Minnie, it's in the past now. I've moved on, and am back and ready to kick some dark arse!'

'Julius Finn, Don't swear!' Minerva admonished.

'Coming from the queen of cuss!' Finn said knowingly.

'That was years ago, Finn. Set an example, your not a wild youth anymore!'

'No, that I am not. But being old shouldn't keep me from doing what I like now should it?'

'Well I suppose not, but you really shouldn't-'

'And you really should not, not,' Finn interrupted.

'You haven't changed a bit, Finn. Your still you annoying old self, just with a few more gray hairs,' Minerva replied with a small smile.

Finn smiled at her joke and they continued to chat and catch up on one another's lives.

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It was just after lunch time, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all sitting in the living room playing a round of exploding snap, and Ginny was winning.

'It's not fair, she's cheating,' Ron complained.

'No I'm not, you're just a sore loser,' Ginny replied, grinning as she beat the two older boys again.

'Harry, mate this is humiliating. We're losing to a girl, a younger girl.'

'Well as glad as I am that you have finally noticed my gender and age, I really need to go write a letter to Dean. So see you two later,' Ginny replied, before skipping away, up to her room.

Ron grumbled at that, he didn't much care for his sister's and Dean's relationship. Dean was his friend and Ginny was his sister and that was just not on!

Harry himself, wasn't sure if he liked Ginny and Dean together as they were. But he wasn't a member of the family or a close enough friend to Ginny toreally hold a meaningful opinion on the subject, so he let it go.

'So have you heard from Hermione? She said she was going to send you a letter,' Ron asked.

'Yeah, Pig showed up with her letter a couple days ago. She said she was looking forward to coming here, don't know why anyone would look forward to coming _here_ personally, but' Harry began, before he broke off, he had once again managed to remind himself of the person who should have been there this summer, but who could never be around again.

'Do you want to talk about it, mate?' Ron asked, doing his best to be understanding, he wasn't exactly a saint when it came to comforting someone.

'Nah, it's just something I have to learn to deal with. So what's been going on around here?' Harry asked, successfully changing the topic.

'not much, we've been trying to get into the order's meetings all summer, but no go, mum's made sure that we can't even listen in with the extendable ears anymore. Though a rather, if nothing else, surprising event happened a day or so ago.'

Harry leaned in slightly, interested as to what happened.

Ron proceeded to tell Harry all about the old man, who had shown up, and how it had turned out that he was McGonagall's brother, who had apparently not been seen in the wizarding world for fifteen years.

Harry wondered.

'Hey Ron, what was the mans name?'

'Oh… er… I think it was Flam or Flim. Oh that's right it was Finn'

That proved Harry's suspicions, and he suddenly remembered how angry he was at Dumbledore, and Finn.

Sensing that his friend was mad, by the fury written in his eyes and his clenched fists, Ron cautiously asked him what was wrong.

Harry shook his head of his thoughts, no use blowing up at Ron or someone else that didn't deserve it.

'Nothing's wrong, nothing at all,' Harry muttered.

Ron could tell that wasn't the case, but didn't want to push his friend at the moment.

Just then Mrs. Weasley called from the doorway, 'Harry, Remus wants a word. He's in the kitchen,' she spoke in her motherly voice.

She knew what Remus wanted to talk about, and just hoped Harry was ready to hear it.

Harry, curious as to what his old professor wanted, nodded his head and stood up from his spot on the floor.

'See you later,' he called back to Ron, as he headed down to the kitchen to find out what Remus wanted.

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Severus Snape was walking through the corridors of Hogwarts, on his way to his quarters, with only one thing on the mind; Julius Finn.

He never would have thought he would see the man again, after fifteen years he hardly expected him to return. But then again, he had expected the same of black and yet twelve years later, there he had been.

When he had seen him, the other night, he couldn't believe his eyes. And instantly the memories of that night returned, he had let down Finn that night, let down one of his very few friends.

After all these years, he had been able to put it at the back of his mind, but seeing that constantly smiling face again brought it all back. It brought back the deceit and the horror that he had let happen and had even committed himself, that night.

As he continued to ponder, he became aware of an increasing burning on his left arm. _He _was calling again, and he, Severus, had to go carry out his obligation to Dumbledore and the Order once more.

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Finn and Minerva had been talking for the entire morning. Reminiscing about the old days, confiding what they had been doing in the past fifteen years, and over all just chatting like brother and sister would do.

Finn had wanted to know what Minerva had been doing these past years. He learnt that she had watched, taught, and let go of many students in the past fifteen years and how each and every child she had taught seemed to hold a place with her.

There was many Gryffindor's that through different circumstance's she had become quite well acquainted with, as well as several students from other houses. He never had quite understood just how hard it was to let go of a student after so many years of teaching them, and watching them grow into fine young men and women, and he didn't think he'd ever be able to fully understand it.

Minerva had said, that she had endured several Weasley's over the years, and though she had never outright admitted it to anyone –until now that is- she had loved teaching and watching each one of them grow into the fine people they were today, even the prankster twins who had found themselves in her office for reprimanding more times than she could care to count.

Finn had to comment those fifty odd years ago, she had been in the same predicament herself quite a number of times, Minnie just smiled at that.

'But on a serious note, Finn. We have to discuss what to do about Harry. He needs to know the truth, not the botched up version you gave him,' Minerva commented.

'Yes, your right Minnie. You're always right, you're the teacher. I'll talk to him, but I don't know when I can,' Finn replied.

'Well you can tonight, I'll drop you round headquarters and you can explain it all to him, and don't you dare do a half arsed job Finnie,' Minerva threatened.

'Language sis, honestly you're supposed to set an example,' Finn said raising the tone of his voice to scarily almost match his sisters.

Minerva just shook her head.

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Harry entered the kitchen, to see that Remus was already seated at the table there was an envelope in his hands and he seemed quite nervous.

Though Remus had been one of his guard members the previous night, he had not really had the chance to talk with him, seeing as Harry had still been quite pissed off at that point not to mention they couldn't risk it when they were flying. He was curious as to what Remus wanted to talk about, but Harry seemed to have the increasing feeling that he wasn't going to like this conversation much.

Remus looked up as he heard Harry approach, 'Harry, good to see you, how've you been?' Remus asked.

Harry nodded his head and muttered, 'I'm alright, I guess. What's going on?'

Remus sighed, he had hoped to prolong his reason for wanting to talk, but obviously Harry wasn't going to take the bait.

'Well I guess I'll just get to the reason I came then shall I? You see Harry, yesterday afternoon an owl arrived, addressed to you and me. It's from Gringott's and I have reason to believe that it's Sirius' last will and testament. And well… er… I thought that we should probably, you know open it sooner rather than later, and well um… what to do you think?' Remus blurted out quickly.

Harry sat for a minute or two, just processing what Remus had said. Was he ready to hear this? This letter would make Sirius' death seem so… final. Not that it hadn't been final from the moment that he had fallen behind that curtain but this would be his goodbye, was he, Harry ready to say goodbye?

No, he wasn't. It was too soon, Sirius had only died a matter of weeks ago, he wasn't ready to say goodbye, and he wasn't really even ready to be back here, at Sirius' home.

He shook his head at Remus, 'um… do you think maybe we could… er do this another time, I'm just,' Harry tried telling Remus but he was having difficulty forming the right words.

Remus seemed to understand though, 'it's okay Harry, we have plenty of time to open it. Tell you what; I'm off on a mission for a couple of weeks and how about we open it when I get back? Does that sound good to you?'

Harry nodded and then asked curiously, knowing he most likely wouldn't get an answer, 'What mission are you going on?'

'Well technically speaking, I'm not allowed to tell you, but I don't think it could harm you to know. I'm off on a quest to the highlands, Dumbledore wanted me to look into the Werewolf population up there, see if any of them are loyal to our side, we could use all the support we can right now, Voldemort is gaining more supporters everyday, and well its not been as easy for us.'

'But why not, I mean the people know he's back now right? I mean, don't people realize the danger we're all in if we don't fight back?'

'Unfortunately the majority of the public doesn't hold your courage or view Harry. They see Voldemort's return as a loss of hope, and many find its easier to give up before the get hurt, and throw in their support with the Voldemort as at least then they will have a better chance at surviving,' Remus answered bitterly, he too wondered what was wrong with those people.

Harry shook his head and looked down at the floor. How did those people not realize that by throwing in there lot with Voldemort they would never survive, not truly. They would be under orders from an evil sadist until they death had mercy on them. Their best hope was to join the fight against him, and hope that they could prevail. Harry just hoped that in time, people would see that, he couldn't hope to win this fight if nobody stood behind him. While it was down to him in the end, he wasn't to proud to say he would need help getting there, a lot of help.

'Harry, you okay?' Remus asked concerned.

Shaking himself from his thoughts he answered, 'yeah I'm fine, just thinking s'all.'

'Alright then, well I have to get going. I have a set portkey ready to take off soon. So, I'll see you when I get back then, all right?'

'Yeah, see you then. Bye Remus, good luck,' Harry said, he wasn't sure how he felt about Remus going off. He and Harry hadn't been as close as Sirius and himself but, they had gotten on quite wellin his third year. And though they had rarely had the chance to talk since then, he had always been a person whose company Harry enjoyed.

Remus gave Harry's back a friendly pat, smiled and said goodbye to him as well, before he apparated out of Grimmauld place, to where Harry expected was Hogwarts.

As soon as Remus had left, Harry found no reason to stay in the kitchen and decided to head back to the drawing room and see if Ron was still there.

When he entered, he found that Ron wasn't around, but he decided that instead of going to look for him, he would use the advantage of having a free moment alone, and sat down.

He stared absentmindedly at the fireplace ahead of him, his mind still on what Remus had told him about the wizarding public. He just didn't understand how people could do that, how they could throw away their lives, and how they could throw away the youth's chance at having a future by joining ranks with Voldemort. It made no sense to him.

He wondered how he could help turn that around, and make the people have hope once again, and make them see that it was worth the fight. He would die before he saw Voldemort in control, and if what the prophecy said was true – which it was- he would die for that to happen.

He was broken from his rather troubling thoughts by someone entering the room. He looked up to see that it was Ginny.

'Hiya Harry.'

'Hey Ginny, finish your letter then?' Harry asked.

'oh yeah I did, I have to wait to send it though, Pig is still with Hermione and the orders owls are all off as well,' Ginny replied.

'Well, you know, you could borrow Hedwig if you'd like. I'm sure she wouldn't mind getting out of this house for a bit.'

'Really Harry? That would be great, thanks!'

'No problem'

'So, how's your summer been so far?'

'Well okay I suppose, it wasn't as bad as most are at the Dursley's,' Harry spoke.

'Ron mentioned that you had been spending time with a neighbor-friend?'

'Yeah, Finn. But he's not my friend, not anymore at least,' Harry muttered.

'Well why not?' Ginny pressed on, curious as to what had broken up the friendship.

'He lied about who he was, he knows all about the wizarding world and the Order, Ginny. And he didn't even tell me. And there I was sitting there telling him things, and he was no doubt reporting everything back to the Order. I felt like such a fool for trusting him and arggh why does Dumbledore have to be so damn secretive! I hate it!' Harry complained angrily.

He didn't know why he had suddenly become Mr. talkative, but Ginny was just easy to talk to like that. She wasn't like Ron or Hermione in that respect. They both would try to argue with him, but Ginny was more like… Remus.

She listened attentively and really heard what you were saying; it seemed that she was even able to hear what wasn't said. She didn't try to reason with him, just like Remus didn't, but she offered her opinion on the matter, asked reasonable questions, gave him advice and then left him to figure the rest out for himself. He liked that about her.

'Well, I'm sure that came as quite a surprise. You're sure that he was corresponding with the Order?'

Harry thought for a moment, 'well not exactly, but why else would he hide the truth from me, I mean he obviously knew I was a wizard.'

'Well, maybe he had another reason for not telling you, sometimes people hide the truth because they don't want people to know how much they've been hurt,' Ginny said rationally, giving Harry a pointed look.

Harry knew inside that she was right, he hadn't given Finn much opportunity to explain himself and he couldn't really be mad at the man, when he wasn't even sure if he had the right to be angry. He had lost his temper before, and by doing so forgot to consider that there may have been other reasons that Finn had kept this from him.

After a few minutes of silence, Harry looked over at Ginny and said, 'thanks gin.'

'Anytime, Harry.'

'So, where's Ron gone off to?' Harry asked, changing the subject.

'Oh, he's off writing a letter to Hermione,' Ginny said smiling mischievously.

'So are they still tap-dancing round each other?' Harry asked, smiling as well.

Ginny seemed surprised that Harry knew of his two best friend's situation.

'What, I'm not as blind as you and others may think, I can see it too, quite frankly I don't know who can't see it.'

Ginny giggled, 'Sorry I just didn't think you'd have noticed. And to answer your question, yes. They are both utterly clueless to each others feelings, they've been writing to each other since summer started, and Ron constantly is asking if she said anything about him to me. Honestly I think he thinks he's being discreet about it all but it couldn't be clearer that he worships the very ground she walks on! And she's no better.'

Harry shook his head with a smile on his face, he knew that his two best friends had liked each other for a while now; it was quite obvious to most except the very two that needed to realize it.

'And I swear if they aren't together by the end of the summer, then I'm stepping in and fixing them together myself!' Ginny finished.

'Oh this is sure to be an interesting ride,' Harry said with a smile.

He hoped, for Ron's ego's sake, that Ron got his act together and asked Hermione out soon. Before Ginny stepped up and asked her out for him, he knew that Ron certainly wouldn't appreciate the assistance, even if it was in his best interests.

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Finn had suddenly found himself getting nervous again. Minerva and he were getting ready to leave for Grimmauld place, and he was going to have to tell his story once again.

He realized that there was no way around not telling Harry, if he wanted to keep the boys trust and friendship, but it was still hard to think and tell someone what he had kept inside him for fifteen years.

'Are you ready Finnie?'

'As I'll ever be Minnie'

Minerva grabbed her brother's arm and side-long apparated them to Grimmauld Place.

Once they had landed, and were inside the hallway Minerva went to find Molly, who would know where Harry was. Finn was left standing alone, he waited patiently enough, until Molly and Minerva returned.

'Why it's good to see you again, Mr. Finn,' Molly said kindly, with a smile on her round face.

'As it is you, my dear lady. and please call me Finn, Mr. makes me feel old… well older,' Finn joked.

Molly chuckled and nodded her head in compliance, 'Harry I believe is in the drawing room, just go ahead up.'

Finn looked in the direction that Molly pointed and bid farewell to his sister and Mrs. Weasley, before heading up the stairs onto the first landing.

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Harry was sitting on the sofa, in the drawing room, waiting for Ron to return with his chessboard.

He was thinking over what Ginny had told him earlier, and decided that he should probably apologize to Finn or at least ask for a proper explanation.

He was about to go and send an owl, right then, when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs and then stop outside the doorway.

Harry looked over and was shocked to find that Finn was standing there, looking nervous and unsure on whether he should come in or stay where he was.

'You can come in you know,' Harry called to him, inviting him into the room.

Finn entered the room, nervous still and cautiously walked over to Harry.

'What are you doing here?' Harry asked curiously.

'Well I was… er… I wanted to try and explain myself, seeing as last time I tried I botched it up considerably. So do you think I can, you know tell you?' Finn asked, once again uncertainly.

'Yeah, of course, I was just about to send a letter and apologize, I'm sorry for screaming at you, I guess that was a bit irrational.'

'That's alright Harry, I'm certain that I deserved it with my effort of making things clear. So why don't we sit down and I'll tell you everything you want to know,' Finn spoke.

The two sat down, much like they had in the past few weeks, and Finn began his greatest and most distressing tale.

'You see Harry, many a year ago, when I was a wee lad of thirteen, my younger sister whom you know as Professor McGonagall had strangely enough received an envelope from the most curious school, the very one that she now teaches at. We were all quite surprised that such a thing as magic did in fact exist. Minnie was the first known witch in our family and for the most part we were all quite proud of her ability. We had always known that something was special about her, she had made quite a few things happen that held no explanation behind them at all, and that letter had explained it all.

'So for the next seven years, Minnie attended Hogwarts. And she shared everything that she learnt with us, she told us that she had learnt to duel, and how to charm objects to fly across the room, and make potions that could make all your hair fall out or heal a broken arm within seconds. It was amazing, to hear of this entire world that before then we had no clue of. I found myself falling in love with its magnificence, much like Minnie herself had.

'She had on several occasions brought me through the Leaky Cauldron, to experience a little of the new world that she was a part of. I so desperately wanted to be a part of that world as well; it had been a dream of mine since I found out about it when I was just thirteen years old.

'A few years after Minnie had graduated from Hogwarts, she had introduced me to a good friend of her's, Cassandra Milton. We fell in love, and I found myself suddenly surrounded by the magic of the Wizarding world. I was able to walk through the streets of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and not feel like a complete outsider. I watched Quidditch as if I had been doing so since I was a small child. I felt like I was now a part of that world, never minding the fact that I had not an ounce of magical capability.

'Eventually, Cassandra and I married. The first war began to pick up at the beginning of the seventies. And Dumbledore began gathering members to fight against the dark; the organization was of course The Order of the Phoenix. Well, Minnie and Cassandra were some of the first in line to join the Order. They had both experienced war with Grindewald, and knew the terror and damage of it. They had only been school children during that last war, and now that they were fully grown witches they wanted to help fight in this one.

'At that point, I had found myself in a bit of a tight spot. While I had never shown any evidence of being magical, its world was my home too, and I also wanted to do my part in saving and defending it. But without the magical capability that was a bit of an issue, I couldn't very well fight fully capable wizards and witches with nothing but my own fists!

'I decided that I would go to Dumbledore, and pledge my service to whatever cause I could actually help with. Dumbledore took me up on my offer and I became a member of the Order. Dumbledore had the perfect job for me. I became somewhat of a Muggle communication and relations advisor. Basically it was my job to help the other Order members deal with Muggle attacks, the Muggle customs, currency, attire –for if and when they went undercover. I was also in charge of the maps, since I knew the Muggle World the best; I was in charge of telling the Order members where exactly they needed to send unauthorized portkeys, members, etc. It was a highly looked upon job, with out it many of the members missions could have been blown. During attacks, it was just as important, since no Order member was authorized to Obliviate Muggles, and theycouldn't use their wands in a situation where Muggles were present, they needed to know how to act accordingly.

'I loved my job, it had allowed me to further connect myself with the world in which according to blood and all I did not belong to. In the next decade or so, the war worsened people were dying left, right and center. Order members were dropping like flies. Hope was beginning to die out; people were running scared, right into Voldemort's clutches.

'In late September of 1981, eleven or so years after the war had first commenced, someone came barging into my house, it was Voldemort and a small group of Deatheater's,' Finn shuddered suddenly, his face paled considerably.

So far his story was going well; he was able to suppress his sadness and anger at the dark side for picking away at the world he had loved and at the people who had become such close friends.

'What happened Finn? Please, tell me,' Harry asked, sitting in his chair a blank look on his face. Already Finn had given him more insight into the first war than any text book or person had ever done.

Finn's facial features, as he had described the first war were full of pain and deep loss. Harry was having a hard time knowing that this time around it would get to be the same, if not worse and it was already beginning.

Finn took a deep breath, swallowed and continued on.

'Cassandra and I were caught unaware; we had just been sitting down for dinner, when they had come. I was immediately placed under the Cruciatus Curse. It was pain unimaginable to me, I felt as if ever fiber in my being was aflame and I was helpless to put it out. Eventually the constant burning ceased and I stood up, shakily to find- to find my wife on her knees at Voldemort's feet, facing me. Voldemort had his wand pointed – pointed at her neck.

'At that point, I tried to reason with him, I told him pathetically that I would do anything if he would just let her go. She was my everything I couldn't bare to lose her. He asked me for information about the Order, and what exactly was its purpose; he was aware that both of us worked for the organization and he knew who we were, that I was a muggle and she had been muggle born. I hesitated, next to my family, the current cause of destroying what was plaguing the Wizarding World was all I had.

'My wife begged for me not to say a word, that she wasn't _that_ important, she told me to run and save myself. To leave her. But I couldn't lose her. Nor could I give away the order's secrets, I would be betraying everyone I knew and I couldn't live with myself after doing that. So I tried to lie, I told him that we were an organization for International Wizard Relations, that we were trying to bond the nations together more.

'I almost thought that he had believed me, but it wasn't so. He entered my mind, just enough to detect the lie. He exited and spit at me, he called me 'filthy muggle scum' and said I'd pay forthat, and I did. I tried begging more, but it was no use in his eyes I had my chance and was foolish enough to waste it. And with that he – he murdered my wife.

'My wife fell lifeless to the ground, I watched the light leave her brilliant eyes and all I could think was my stupidity had led to her demise. I at that point wanted death as well, so I could be with her again, I couldn't bear life without her by my side. But apparently Voldemort had thought the same and had spared my life that day to have me live with the very worst of torture.

'After Cassandra's funeral, I decided that I couldn't take this anymore. I no longer had a purpose in the wizarding world, at least in my eyes I didn't. It was giving me nothing but more grief that I just couldn't take. I began cutting off my ties with the wizarding world, I threw out every wizard thing I owned, the robes, the chocolate frog cards, the candy anything that would be a reminder. I stop corresponding and communicating with my wizarding friends, and even my sister, and eventually I disappeared from that world all together, and went back into the one I was born into.

'The only Wizarding item I continued to get was The Prophet. I wanted to be aware at least of what was occurring with the war, if a friend had perished. I may have left coldly but I wasn't cruel. I wanted to know what to know if or when another irreplaceable life had been taken.

'Then one day, a couple months later I received the prophet by owl as was usual, it was the last one I ever received. I can remember the headlines clear as ever:

**YOU-KNOW-WHO DEFEATED BY THE BOY-WHO-LIVED!**

**LILY AND JAMES POTTER DEAD!**

**SIRIUS BLACK CONVICTED OF ASSISTING IN POTTER DEATHS!**

'You see Harry, I knew you parents quite well. I met them through the order; they were such a lovely couple. Young and bright-spirited, and so very brave. You were just a wee tike back then, but my you were a handful. I was terribly distraught when it was announced that they had died. And after that issue, I saw no reason to stay connected with the wizarding world at all, Voldemort was gone, very few of my friends were still alive, there was little left for me there, and with Cassandra gone I felt like I had no place there any longer.

'For the next fifteen years, I spent my time reconnecting with the muggle world. I was selfish enough to not even visit my sister; it hurt me too much to go back even to see family. I traveled the globe for a year or so, trying to clear my head, and forget it all. And eventually settled into a town up north and became a chef- an ambition of mine as a small child. But it was never the same, and I found myself constantly missing the spark of the magic that had lit up the wizarding world. I missed the charms, and animals, and the people and the very air that was magical. But I just couldn't return. I lost all my courage and bravery that night, when I watched my world being ripped away from me.

'Then just quite recently I began to notice strange occurrences, ones that clearly had wizard written all over it. I saw on the news an entire block of houses had blown up in Yorkshire, and I just felt that once again evil was stirring and it had a magical core to it.

'I decided that I needed to help. I had hidden from everyone for far too long, and I needed to find my way back to the world which I still loved, though it was associated with horrible times for me, I still couldn't help but love it. And I wasn't going to hide anymore.

'I decided to move back closer to London, and the closest affordable property I could find at short notice was in fact #6 Privet Drive, Little Whinging. I moved in just about a week before you returned from Hogwarts. I had yet to contact any wizard or witch as I had no way of doing so, and being mere muggle I didn't have a wand or anything that could help my situation. My best option was to wait until the new school year and try and catch a wizard at the train station who could help me out. You see Harry; it was only by pure coincidence that the very house I chose was to be the one neighboring your relatives. I wasn't spying on you Harry nor corresponding with the order; I was merely getting to know you again, that's the truth,' Finn finished up; he looked at Harry with eyes that pleaded with him to understand.

Harry was still sitting in his seat, staring wide-eyed at Finn. He couldn't believe the tale he had just heard it surpassed any that Finn had told him to date. Poor Finn had lost his wife and the only magic in his life all because of Voldemort. Harry was surprised that Finn had so much of a connection with the wizarding world. Finn appreciated the wizarding world more than anyone Harry knew, and he wasn't even a wizard!

Finn had known his parents, and he must of known Sirius and Remus as well. To say the story was overwhelming, was putting it lightly. He wondered as he often had, what things would be like nowadays had his parents not died, had Cassandra-Finn's wife- not been murdered but he just couldn't imagine something so out of reach. But one thing was for certain Harry certainly believed Finn now, and he didn't blame him for not telling him all this when they had first met.

'So then,Harry, do you forgive an old man?'

Harry sat in silence for a minute, 'On one condition.'

'Of course, anything'

'You tell me all your stories about you and Professor McGonagall growing up, it'll be good to have that in case I forget an essay or two,' Harry said with a smile.

Finn chuckled and said, 'Of course, me boy, I couldn't think of any better use for a story.'

**A.N. thus ends chapter four. I hope you all enjoyed. I liked writing Finn's story in this chapter so I hope that you guys enjoyed the read. **

**I do apologize that this was so late, but I am afraid that the updates aren't going to be consistent, they will be frequent enough, but I just can't update as quickly as some of you might like. I have a life that needs living as well! So anyways I hope you enjoyed and please please please leave me a nice long review, I put a lot of time into writing and I really enjoy hearing your feedback on it!**

**Cheers,**

**Petroleumjellydotone.**


	5. Chapter 5:Panic

**Chapter Five**

**Panic**

'And then, unexpectedly it caught fire- it had absolutely nothing whatsoever to with me, of course,' Finn established.

Harry gave Finn a pointed look, as if to say, 'Yeah right'.

Finn was telling Harry about his past homes, and how he had an inability of keeping one.

His first flat, had flooded beyond repair when Finn had accidentally forgotten to turn off the tap.

He had been evicted from his second flat for not paying his rent on time, and his third home- a small cottage- had caught fire one day.

The only time he had had any luck with a house was with his wife, and that had only lasted so long.

Finn was just coming around to telling Harry about his trip to Aruba, when Mrs. Weasley popped her head in the door.

'Sorry to interrupt dears, but supper is ready,' she told them.

The three left the drawing room, and walked down to the basement kitchen. Molly entered first, followed by Harry and Finn.

'Everyone, most of you know Mr. Finn, children say hello,' Mrs. Weasley commanded Ron and Ginny in her motherly tone.

'Hello,' Ron and Ginny replied, directing the greeting at the Finn.

After the small introduction, everyone settled down to eat. Finn and Harry sat next to Ron, Ginny, and the twins- who were currently catapulting peas off their spoons at each other.

'You know, I've found that forks work much better, more leverage, you know? Just a thought,' Finn pointed out to the twins.

Fred and George smiled mischievously, oh how they liked this man!

Harry and Minerva both shook their heads, though they were smiling. They knew exactly how Finn was- a seventy-three year old version of the Weasley twins _and_ Marauders.

For the rest of dinner, the table members chatted happily. There was limited mention of war and business, for which everyone was thankful. It was just another meal with family and friends.

Though oddly enough those moments of content never seemed to last too long.

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Half an hour after dinner, Finn and Minerva decided it was time they'd be going.

Finn offered his goodbyes to the Weasley's and to the few members of the Order that were present, before pulling Harry aside for a quick word.

'I'll be seeing you soon, Harry. Maybe sooner than you'd think,' Finn smiled.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Harry asked, curiously.

'Well, I have been thinking of asking Dumbledore for my old job with the Order back, you know get reinstated and all. I'm back in this world now, and my goal is still unaccomplished, and we can't have that now, can we?'

'Oh, well then I guess I _will_ be seeing you soon then. Good luck Finn, and well see you then,' Harry grinned; it'd be nice having Finn around Grimmauld Place for a little of what was left of summer.

The two returned to the group and after giving Harry a brief grandfatherly-like hug goodbye, Finn disappeared after side-apparating along with his sister.

Harry stood smiling at the spot Finn had just stood, he was glad they had made good of things. Now that Finn had been around him for the last few weeks he hadn't wanted to give all that up, no matter how angry he had been with Finn and Dumbledore at the time.

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Soon after Finn and McGonagall left, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were sent upstairs as an order meeting was about to commence.

Ron had soon enough filled him in on how much more careful the Order had been with their information since Kreacher and all. It was impossible to hear any of what was going on anymore-not even Fred and George were letting anything slip. Ron's mum had even confiscated their extendable ears soon after they arrived.

Harry had asked him what had happened to Kreacher, with much reluctance, and who had replaced him. Whoever had, deserved applause; most of Grimmauld place was hardly comparable to last years gloomy, depressing hallways, and dusty worn rooms.

'Well soon after Siri- er… everything, Dumbledore went to collect Kreacher from here to do what I don't know but, when he came he couldn't find him he had disappeared entirely from the household, and he managed to take that old tapestry with him, pity he couldn't get Mrs. Black of the wall too, if you ask me.

'Anyways, Dumbledore didn't even attempt to go after him. But it's not a big loss really, and seeing as he was never truly released from his position he is still bound to secrecy with anything Sirius ordered him to keep quiet. And after that, Dumbledore decided that he would personally pick the new house-elf to manage the house, none other than-'

'Harry Potter, sir!'

Harry swiveled round, to find himself staring into the big green eyes of Dobby the house-elf.

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Meanwhile, down in the kitchen below the Orders meeting was just about to commence.

Minerva was absent from the meeting this evening, as she felt that she needed to spend a bit more time with her brother. The group understood this and from there they plowed onwards.

Kingsley Shacklebolt had the floor first. 'Minister Fudge, while publicly having announced that Voldemort is back, has ceased to do much else. The Aurors are being called in for, from all over Britain; there are not enough of us to meet the needs of the country. We feel that before long, we will need a new minister. One that can handle a war, as it is quite clear that Fudge is completely incompetent for the job,' Kingsley explained on behalf of the Auror department.

'And what of new recruits in the Auror division?' Arthur asked.

'There have been a few, too few,' Kingsley responded, shaking his head. Nobody wanted to risk there lives for a cause that they weren't guaranteed to win, this war had barely begun and already hope was lost among many of the people.

'Has the ministry voted for a vote of no confidence yet, Kingsley?' Dumbledore questioned.

'Not publicly, though rumor has it that it's a future possibility. But then rumors have also been saying that Alastor's been admitted to St. Mungo's for suffering vast paranoia,' Kingsley smiled.

The group chuckled, before remembering that Alastor was among them, and then politely as possible covered their mirth with coughs. Though, that did little to phase the ex-Aurors scowl presented in the orders general direction.

'Very well then, until that point, we can do little to nothing but try and speed along the processes,' Albus urged. 'Severus, any word on your front?'

'No sir, I'm afraid not. The Dark Lord is withholding more and more from his followers, and even those of his inner circle are not accessed to the information they once were. Though I have reason to believe he is only biding his time, before he strikes, and when he does, I believe that he will strike hard and swift,' Snape replied.

The atmosphere that was just a few moments before one of laughter was now once again completely serious, war had a way of sucking up any and all happiness even at its mere mention.

'Then we will need to be ready for anything. Keep us posted, my boy,' Albus remarked; he held great respect for the young man who had given his life to this cause.

The rest of the statements made in that meeting were of little or no importance, they were just regular reports of missions and procedures, nothing as of the moment was out of order, which for the order was cause to worry.

An hour or so later, those that were not staying at headquarters slowly started to depart, until it was just the Weasley's left talking around the fireplace.

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'_My lord,' Bellatrix uttered, from the feet of her master._

'_What new do you bring Bella?' Harry found himself asking through the mouth of his enemy._

'_Privet Drive has been carefully monitored for the past 2 weeks now, my lord. We have been unable to breach the protection wards, but it is inevitable that the muggle neighbor next door is aware of our world. And we have reason to believe that this muggle was at one point involved with Dumbledore's order,' She reported._

_Voldemort sneered- and Harry sneered with him-he knew exactly who 'that' muggle was; one he wanted dead._

'_You've done well Bella, now as for the muggle, I feel that it is time we pay him another visit,' Harry sneered, he could feel the malicious smirk rising on Voldemort's face, and he could feel the happiness and thrill that Voldemort seemed to be getting from the pain he was bout to cause._

_The two apparated out of the lair, to privet drive, right in front of number six._

'_I think I'll spare the pleasures paid this time, EXPLIDUS,' Voldemort/Harry cried, his wand pointed at the door of number six, which promptly lit up along with the rest of the house in a horrific green flame. _

_Trapped in Voldemort's mind, Harry was forced to watch as Finns home was burnt to the ground probably with Finn inside with no chance of escape. His scar burnt viciously as Voldemort cackled with sadistic glee. _

Harry's head felt like it was about to explode just like Finn's house had just done. Eventually he felt himself being sucked back into his own state of mind, where someone was shaking him fiercely.

'Harry, wake up- bloody hell! Stop kicking, Harry!'

Harry shot up in his bed, in a cold sweat. His head felt as if someone had taken a beaters club to it, and he was shaking right out of his skin.

'Harry! What happened?' Ron asked, from next to Harry's bed.

Still in a shock from what he had seen, Harry tried his best to form the necessary words to describe it.

'Finn- where's Finn?' Harry asked, gasping for a breath.

'I don't know, Harry- calm down, I'm getting mum, 'Ron responded; panicking at the fact that Harry was panicking.

Harry stared wildly around the room, hoping that there might be the slight chance that Finn was here in this room, safe. But he knew that was a hopeless thought. The vision ran through his mind in a series of scenes that expressed true wickedness. His scar was stinging still, though not as viciously as it had been before.

He tried to remind himself that he didn't even know if the vision were true, let alone if Finn had been home. But those green flames kept interrupting that train of thought, and he continued to fidget and worry.

He heard the quiet of the night, being interrupted by the pounding of feet on the stairs, indicating that it was not just Ron and his mum that were approaching.

His scar was now at a dull ache, and he felt a headache coming on strong. Harry's hands were shaking like the rest of him and he tried desperately to get them to stop before Ron returned with Mrs. Weasley and who ever else were approaching the room.

Ron reentered the room followed by a sea of red heads.

Mrs. Weasley pushed her way past her sons to reach Harry, who was still sitting on his bad with a sickly pale complexion and wild eyes that look exhausted and devastated.

'What happened Ron?' She inquired, worried.

'I'm not sure, I woke up to go to the bathroom and he was thrashing about and clutching his scar and looking as if he trying to scream and laugh at the same time, ' Ron declared frantically from his spot next to Harry's bed.

'Where's Finn?' Harry asked again. Why would no one tell him?

'I'm not sure Harry. Take a deep breath now,' Mrs. Weasley insisted calmly.

'NO! Where is he? WHERE'S FINN?' He shouted.

The group looked at each other wondering what Harry knew that they didn't.

'Please tell me,' Harry requested pitifully.

'Harry –we'll go find him mate,' George spoke up from the back of the group surround Harry's bed.

Fred nodded his head in agreement, and Molly Weasley smiled at her prankster son's

The twins left and Mr. Weasley asked from behind his two older sons' –bill and Charlie-, 'What happened, in your vision Harry?' He had assumed that was what had occurred.

Harry was quiet a moment, reliving the horror once again, he shakily answered, 'There-there was this huge explosion of green light. Voldemort knows where I was living, he had been watching Privet Drive, and he went after Finns house when he couldn't get past the wards on mine!'

'Harry, is your family okay?' Mrs. Weasley asked, hoping that Harry's last remaining relatives had not perished for his sake.

Harry nodded his head, 'I think so.'

Molly looked to her husband, and in return he nodded, 'I'll go floo Dumbledore, and check in with the Dursley's.'

'We'll come with you dad,' Bill added, speaking for himself and Charlie.

The three men left, leaving Ron and Mrs. Weasley behind to take care of Harry.

Shortly after, there was a knock at the door to Harry and Ron's room. A slipper-clad Ginny Weasley came through into the room, with a curious face that was wondering what had happened?

'Harry had another vision,' Ron supplied, when no one else spoke up.

Ginny's eyes widened, knowing that the past visions Harry had had contained her father being bitten, and Sirius.

'Are you alright, Harry?'

Harry simply nodded, his eyes set firmly on the faded quilt on his bed. Of course this was a lie. He wouldn't be okay until Finn was found alive.

They waited for fifteen or so minutes before the door was approached again.

It was Fred and George; they looked out of breath, as if they had just run all over London.

Harry looked at them hopefully.

Fred shook his head, 'We looked all over Little Whinging but we couldn't see him. The muggles at Privet Drive are all up and about, its absolute madness down there, houses alight left and right.'

'We checked Hogwarts too, but the halls and McGonagall's office were both empty,' George added, a fearful look in his eyes.

Where was Finn?

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Arthur Weasley and his two eldest boys, landed in the headmasters office, after just leaving Grimmauld place. Arthur looked around for Albus and found him standing over by his phoenix.

Dumbledore turned from the bird, and looked curiously at the men before him.

'Arthur, why I could barely her you enter at all, my hearing is not what it used to be. Is something wrong, I only left you a matter of hours ago?'

'We have a er… situation. Harry has had an another vision, 'Arthur reported to the elderly man,

Dumbledore's face took on a more serious edge, 'oh? What of this time?' he questioned, wondering if he even wanted to know the answer.

'Apparently, Voldemort has received knowledge of where Harry's relatives are living. He wasn't able to penetrate the wards that much Harry told us, but he was able to take out number six, we aren't sure if Finn made it or not, sir,' Arthur reiterated gravely.

'And how is Harry?' Dumbledore wondered, the poor boy, having to see such a thing, though he feared that it would not be the last time Harry was witness to such an event, he could not be sure if this was even the first time he was a witness..

Arthur wondered why Albus was not worried for Finn's safety, but answered the headmasters question anyways. 'He is quite shook up, but that is to be expected I'm sure.'

'I see. Mr. Weasley?' Dumbledore began, speaking to Charlie, 'if you would please find your way down to the three broomsticks I am quite certain that you'll find both Minerva and Finn. Please notify them of what has happened and escort them back to headquarters.'

Charlie nodded, 'Yes sir,' he replied, before obediently heading out of Dumbledore's office and down across the grounds to Hogsmeade.

'Arthur, Bill if you would please accompany me to privet drive, I am sure that there is quite a mess to clean up,' Dumbledore requested, wincing slightly at the thought of the destruction that might await them.

The two redheads complied; they were –quite frankly- just relieved to hear Finn was okay. In the last few days, they had all gotten to know and like the older man.

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Harry looked at Fred and George, wondering if what they said was true, was Finn really missing, or maybe he wasn't missing but dead.

'Fred, George are you sure you look hard enough?' Mrs. Weasley asked, as if it were a mere lost sock they were searching for instead of a human being.

'We looked mum, we swear,' George claimed.

Molly turned back to Harry, who had lain down against his pillows again, looking exhausted and defeated. Why was it always his friends and family, that's what it felt like at least?

'Don't give up yet Harry. Nothing has been confirmed, no use getting worked up over nothing,' Mrs. Weasley comforted.

Harry nodded slightly, but his mood and thoughts weren't in complete agreement with what Mrs. Weasley had proposed.

Harry appreciated all the Weasley's were doing for him, he had never had the comfort of family around to help him out, but Ron's family seemed to slowly be changing that.

Eventually, the footsteps on the stairs that had been recurring through out the night, sounded again.

Charlie Weasley knocked on the doorframe, 'Sorry to interrupt, but Harry's got a visitor.'

The older Weasley son moved aside and in walked Finn. He looked concerned at the boy lying on his bed who looked incredibly surprised to see him alive.

'Harry, lad. You okay?' Finn asked.

'Finn I thought you-'

'I know, but I'm fine. I may be old, but no little explosions going to get me down!' Finn interrupted with a small smile.

Harry smiled back at Finn, and sagged into his pillows with relief, for a moment there he really though Finn was gone for good.

"Now why don't you go back to sleep and we'll talk in the morning?' Finn suggested quietly seeing that Harry was quite tired.

Harry admitted to himself that he was exhausted, but he didn't want to dream again, he was too drained –physically and emotionally- to deal with nightmares tonight.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to be somewhat aware of his worry and promptly brought up a dreamless sleep potion, 'So you get a guaranteed rest,' she voiced.

Harry thanked her, grateful for her thought, before downing the sour tasting potion.

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Albus, Bill, and Arthur arrived at Privet Drive quite soon after leaving Dumbledore's office.

Privet Drive was a mess, muggles were all out of their houses, and some were trying to douse the magical fires, while others were standing in small groups gossiping about what had happened.

The ministry it seemed had not heard of the attack as no Auror or obliviator were visible to the group.

Several houses on the block had been blown up before it appeared that Voldemort had found something more entertaining and left.

Charlie began to put out some of the more dangerous fires, while Arthur contacted the order, asking for some more members to aid them in cleaning up this mess.

Albus headed to number four to make sure the Dursley's were all right.

Upon reaching the front gate it was obvious that the protective wards had done their job, the house-unlike the rest on the road – was left in its perfect condition, not a grass out of place.

Albus run the bell next to the front door, and patiently waited for someone to open up.

It didn't take long before he heard the heavy steps of Vernon Dursley approaching.

Vernon opened the door, to see the tall old wizard standing before him. Quickly, he attempted to shut the door but Albus used a strength one wouldn't think a man his age could possess and forced his way into the Dursley's front hallway.

'What the BLOODY HELL!'

Before Vernon could say much more, Albus interrupted, 'Mr. Dursley, I assure you I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here; I merely came in to check on your family's well-being after the explosion.' Albus recited this with all the patience he could reserve for such people as the Dursley's.

'Explosion! What are you talking about you old codger! Now you listen here, I will not stand for anymore of your kind in this house, it's bad enough to have one here in the summer! Now be gone,' Vernon screeched and spluttered, momentarily forgetting he was in the presence of quite a capable wizard.

Dumbledore scowled at the porky man, 'Now Mr. Dursley, I think that we have been quite discreet with our presence among you, there is no need for you're to act so intolerant of us.'

'OUT! GET OUT!'

'Very well, please give my well-wishes to petunia, farewell,' Dumbledore responded, his patience now holding quite thinly, but holding none the less.

Dumbledore stopped back out in the chaotic street, glad to know that the wards had worked as they were supposed to; the house had been protected from the explosions even in sound.

From the front gate of number four, he could see many order members that were not already on missions, hard at work dousing the dark magic flames, while others were obliviating the muggles and healing those that could be healed.

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After Harry had fallen asleep, the group had gone down to the kitchen, with the exception of Ginny who had gone back up to bed.

The four Weasley boys present – Ron, Fred, George, and Charlie- sat to one side of the kitchen table, while Molly, Finn, and Minerva sat to the other side.

All were waiting for some news from either Arthur or Albus.

Finn sat drumming his fingers on the wood of the table, whistling a tune quietly. As Molly and Minerva, had struck up a most fascinating conversation on how to get grease off a pan in the most efficient, magical way possible.

Ron and Charlie were talking mildly of dragons, run was quite intrigued by the stories of the dragon's and adventure his brother had had in Romania- though they kept their voices low so their mother didn't overhear of the danger that accompanied Charlie's occupation.

Fred and George of course were plotting away at new ideas for pranks and new items for their newly opened shop. They occasionally received the input from Finn on how they might better their product.

A good hour later, somebody came through the door, having just arrived back from Little Whinging.

Albus Dumbledore strode into the kitchen, looking around trying to spot the messy black hair of the boy he needed to speak with as soon as possible.

'Why Albus, whatever are you doing here?' Minerva asked from the table, she hadn't expected for Albus to turn up, it was rare for him to come to headquarters unless there was a meeting to attend.

'I need to speak with Harry, where might I find him?' Dumbledore requested up front, not his usual style of approach but right now he had pressing matters to attend to, not to mention he was still a little miffed from his visit with the ever-gracious Dursley's.

'I'm afraid that it's not a convenient time to speak with him, Albus. Potter's resting,' Minerva replied.

'Well I'm afraid that we will just have to wake him up then.'

'Surely it could wait until morning, Albus. He's been through quite an ordeal tonight? Minerva proclaimed, showing an uncharacteristic amount of compassion towards her student, and an irregular amount of upset towards her boss.

'Well, I am afraid that this can't wait, so Molly if you please,' Albus specified firmly, no one dared to speak against him this time.

Molly, though she agreed with Minerva, stood up and led Dumbledore up to Harry's room on the first landing.

After thanking her quickly, he entered the room and went over to Harry's bedside. He proceeded to shake the sleeping teenager awake.

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Harry opened his eyes blearily, his head was pounding dully from a long coming headache, and all he wanted was to go back to sleep while the affects of the potion were still kicking. But whoever was shaking him had other plans.

'Harry, wake up now, come on,' He heard a voice calling to him.

He reached over to the bedside cabinet and grabbed his glasses. Setting them on his face, he blinked his eyes clear, to see his headmaster sitting next to him, a serious and determined face among wrinkles and aging beard.

Not really feeling up to speaking with him, Harry looked over at the wall, hoping that it might get him to leave.

But Dumbledore remained persistent, 'Harry, I have to ask you of your vision. I need to know everything you might remember it's important for your s and your relative's safety.'

'Hello, to you too sir. Yes I'm Fine, just had a raving mad lunatic in my head again but no big deal,' Harry piped up, his words were laced with undeniable raw sarcasm.

Albus was slightly taken aback by the harsh edge of Harry's tone, but didn't have the time to start an argument now, he still had to get to the ministry and stop the press from getting involved with this particular attack, they couldn't afford for it to be a headline.

'Harry, please there is no time to do this right now; this is urgent.'

Harry too, was surprised that he was able to speak so offensively to his headmaster, but he could not help his anger that he still held against the old man.

'Why should I tell you at all? Hmmm? What business is it of yours, what I see?' Harry snapped, once more with a cold edge in his voice.

'Harry, Please listen-

'No, I won't listen. I may have to listen to your rules and regulations at school but its summer now, and you can't tell me what to do.

'And what difference is it to you what was in that vision; you're not the one who has to battle him. As you so clearly told me last term, it's my battle this time. You're not in control of this 'game' any longer, and I refuse to just be a pawn of it any longer. Until you realize that sir, I'm afraid I can't respect you as anything other than the headmaster of my school. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get some sleep while I can!' Harry scowled, he was harsh and firm with each word he uttered to the shocked headmaster.

He didn't regret his coldness though, he had told Dumbledore what no one else had the courage to say; the raw truth.

Satisfied with his statement, Harry took off his glasses and once more rolled over and fell asleep once more.

Albus sat, shell-shocked for a few minutes. He had not expected Harry to be so callous, he usually received such compliance and respect from the boy. Though he did see some reason in the boy's speech, but whether Albus was ready to pass on the torch or not, was yet to be decided.

With that in mind, Dumbledore left the room, empty of what he came for but full of something a lot more mind-blowing.

He quickly bid farewell to the rest of the household, apologizing for his abrupt leave and rudeness earlier, before he floo'd to the ministry; hopefully in time to keep the story out of the papers.

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The following morning, Harry woke up surprisingly late in the morning. Ron wasn't in his bed snoring as usual, and the sun was higher in the sky then it usually was when he awoke.

He waked down into the kitchen, hoping that he wasn't too late for a bit of breakfast.

When he walked through he was glad to see that breakfast was still in procession. Harry quickly took his place between Finn and Ron and filled his plate with the scrumptious foods that both Mrs. Weasley and Grimmauld Places new house-elf –Dobby- had provided.

'Good Morning, Harry, how are you this lovely sunny morning?' Finn asked cheerfully, though the concern for the boy was easily read in his eyes.

'Okay and you?' Harry replied, a general worry for the elder man evident in his voice.

'Quite fine, lad, quite fine,' Finn smiled, before taking a bite of his buttered toast.

'And the house?' Harry hesitantly questioned; nobody had told him what exactly had happened.

'Gone, I'm afraid. But that's okay, never really had much luck with houses anyway,' Finn replied, chuckling slightly.

Harry laughed freely, knowing Finn didn't mind the loss all too much and therefore he needn't feel too guilty over its loss. Though no one had yet told him that several had perished along with their own homes last night.

**A.N. Well that's the end of this chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get it out, with school starting and vacations lasting longer than I would have liked I didn't have time to type it all out. Hopefully it isn't too bad of a chapter, it definitely wasn't my favorite but I needed it out of the way for the future plot. Hopefully in the next chapter or two we'll see the group head off to Hogwarts and then things will hopefully roll on a bit faster and smoother as right now updates, and plot are both a bit choppy. **

**Well please review, even if it's to tell me that your not a huge fan of my work I don't mind I listen to what you say and use it for the better- to better my writing, so please it would mean a lot even if its only two little words.**

**Until next time**

**Cheers,**

**Petroleumjellydotone.**


	6. Chapter 6: Fireworks!

A week and a half passed by since Harry's vision, and the ruin of Finn's fifth home. After that not much had transpired. Finn had, for the time being, moved into Grimmauld Place.

Hermione had also appeared at Grimmauld Place- something Ron seemed apprehensively enthusiastic about it.

She had been on vacation to France again, with her parents, and while she claimed to have a lovely time, she was glad to be back among the other magic folk, in an ironic way it felt more realistic to her.

After the most recent arrivals at Headquarters, time had picked up for Harry. It was a week before his 16th birthday, and Harry had to admit he couldn't wait to finally be spending it among his friends.

Presently, Harry was in the drawing room playing chess with Ron; well more like losing at chess.

It was late Saturday morning, and the house was quite quiet with very few order members running in and out, Harry felt that made the dark and dreary home slightly more bearable. It felt more like a house for regular people then a headquarters for top-secret wizard and witches.

Ginny and Hermione were down in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley chatting about things that Harry was sure he would rather not know about, though he had noticed those three disappearing off together more and more frequently as of late. He had no reason to be suspicious of them though so he let them be.

He had not heard from Dumbledore since he had exchanged the harsh words with him the previous week. Harry was not necessarily troubled by this either, if Dumbledore wasn't going to come round to the truth, then he certainly would not pointlessly wait for him to.

He pondered, not for the first time since speaking with Dumbledore, whether or not he could seriously take charge of the war. He wondered whether or not it would change the odds for the worse, or if he could hold the responsibility at all. But he wasn't backing down from what he said, for that was the truth. Dumbledore had to recognize that no matter what he thought personally; Harry was a part of this war, and not just any part but a most significant one. Leaving him in the dark now, would only harm them in the long run, and possibly prevent any victory for them at all.

Voldemort's activeness had been lacking recently, his only attack had been at Privet Drive. And though it had left the place in a mess, it had not destroyed as many lives as it could have done. It was enough to stir Harry's emotions though, he tried, of course, to shield it behind his barrier, but on occasion he could not help but think of those few who had lost their lives and others who had lost their homes and belongings. He wondered how many more times he would sit there thinking of lost victims in his battle.

'Checkmate!' Ron called, as his bishop took Harry's king off the battered chess board.

These shook Harry of his musings, and he realized that he had lost his fifth game of chess now, yet hadn't even remembered moving his pieces.

It must of shown, as then Ron hesitantly asked, 'are you alright Harry? You seem a bit distracted.'

'What- oh I'm fine'

'You sure?'

'Of course,' Harry said, and then smiled reassuringly, besides he was fine but not perfect, not overly jovial, just content with the moment. Though he was very much certain that he would be nothing better than 'fine' for as long as this war lasted.

'Okay, another round then?' Ron asked, indicating the chess board between them.

'I think I've taken all the losses I can take today, how about we go get something to eat?' Harry said, knowing already that Ron would not refuse a trip to the kitchen.

'Alright then, I am a bit hungry.'

Harry chuckled and shook his head, 'you're always hungry.'

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Dumbledore was sitting comfortably in his office going through his mail, of which there was aplenty, when there was a knock at the door.

'Come in,' He said, not looking up from his letter from the department of international magical cooperation.

The faintest sound of footsteps entered the room. The silence that occupied the room, at that time, caused Dumbledore to look up into the eyes of a student whom he never imagined he would meet again.

'Good Afternoon, Headmaster.'

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'And what about the invitation list? Oh and I must bake a cake big enough to cover the table,' Mrs. Weasley went on gleefully.

'Well we decided to keep it small because of all the protection issues, so we were thinking of just the order, and the family,' Ginny said.

They had been planning Harry's surprise birthday party for at least a week now, wanting everything to be just right for the birthday boy, who had done so much for them all in the past. They wanted to make this birthday special for him.

They continued to talk enthusiastically of the party that was to take place next Saturday on the 31st, and then they abruptly cut off as they heard heavy male footsteps hitting the steps.

Seconds later, the door opened letting Harry and Ron through.

'Hey everyone,' Harry greeted.

The three replied, trying their best not to appear as if they had something to hide, though Harry saw through that quick enough.

'What's going on?' He asked curiously.

'What!-'

'Nothing!'

'Just girl talk.'

Came the three replies at once, now he knew something was going on for sure.

'Its okay, you don't have to tell me.'

'Tell you what? There's nothing to tell,' Ginny replied smartly.

'_Sure_,' Harry smiled, but he let the subject drop, to the relief of the three women.

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Dumbledore watched the man in front of him, as he greeted him. He looked as if he had seen a ghost.

'Forgive me; I am sure I have given you quite a fright.' The man said politely.

'No worries, its just, I- we all thought you were-'

'Dead?'

Dumbledore confirmed this with a nod of his head.

'Nope, alive and in the flesh. Perhaps an explanation would suffice at this point, professor?'

Dumbledore smiled, and his eyes twinkled, 'yes I'm sure it would,' and he settled in to listen to his tale, all the while shaking his head in wonder at the amount of people that continued to just appear among them all once again. Finn and now this young man, wait till Remus heard!

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As the days drew closer and closer to Harry's birthday and the party the girls were secretly planning, everyone was in on it and hopefully Harry was at the very most just simply suspicious of what was going on. They hoped he hadn't figured it out; they had worked all too hard for the surprise to be spoilt three days before the party was to occur.

If Harry did know, he kept his mouth quiet about it, and continued on with his daily activities. He had taken to waking up earlier then the rest of the household as the nightmares were just too much to stay asleep that extra hour.

Instead he would go sit in the drawing room, and read waiting for Mrs. Weasley to go down to the kitchen and start breakfast, before he too went down. If it was made to look like he wasn't the first up than less people would be suspicious as to why he was up so early. He figured someone would pick up on it soon, he, himself, wasn't blind to the bags darkening beneath his eyes, nor was he screened from the concerned looks occasionally passed his way, with just a simple yawn on his part. But for now, he would rather keep it quiet, if someone else were to know, they would be sure to tell Dumbledore, and as of the moment he had no intention of speaking to the man outside of matters concerning school.

Currently, Harry was stretch across a sofa in the drawing room, with a thick text on defense resting in his lap. He had picked it off the shelf in the Black family library earlier that week, and decided to see what it contained. Surprisingly this was one of the few texts in the library that wasn't full of dark magic, but rather full of useful information that could aid him. Currently he was reading a section on wand technique, and was drinking it all in.

'Bit of light reading there, Harry?' a voice asked from the door.

Startled, Harry nearly flew off the sofa.

'Remus! Your back!' He said surprised to see the werewolf only a few short weeks after his departure.

'Yes I am. Sorry if I frightened you,' Remus answered, coming to sit in a chair opposite Harry.

'That's okay; you just surprised me, is all. I didn't think anyone was awake yet.'

'Yes it is rather early isn't it, what are you doing up so early?' Remus asked, concerned.

'When did you get back, I thought you'd be gone for at least another week?' Harry asked, rather bluntly changing the subject.

Remus let it drop for now, though his worry was still present for the boy, 'Late last night, my trip was not overly successful and Dumbledore called me back sooner then he intended to.'

'You weren't hurt were you?' Harry asked, now showing concern for his older friend.

'No, nothing like that, the werewolves have chosen not to commit to either side of the war for the time being. Though, that is likely to change as this war pushes onward.'

Harry sat stunned, that Remus was being so open with him. Everyone else, worked extra hard to hide any and all information from him, but Remus just flat out told him the truth, it certainly was a change.

'In whose favour?' he asked.

'That I couldn't tell you, Harry. It all depends. Come on, how about we make breakfast for a change; let Molly put her feet up.'

Harry agreed and the two headed down to the kitchens, where they proceeded to cook enough food to suit the household and more.

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On the morning of July 31st, Harry was woken by the out of key musical stylings of Fred and George Weasley, with their hit single 'Happy Birthday Dear Potty'.

Harry, Ron, and the twins had laughed until they were dizzy, before they made it down to the kitchen for Harry's first ever birthday breakfast. And boy did he enjoy it! Every breakfast he could imagine sat across the table, and the aroma alone made him want to stuff his face full!

The morning was full of a happy conversation, and jokes on the twin's and Finn's part; Harry was content with it all, having never had a real birthday experience.

He had received several owls from friends at school, who had been kind enough to send their greetings in a wizarding style birthday card. He believed Luna's had been the most creative of them all with animated lions roaring out the words 'Happy Birthday Harry' in red and gold lettering, across the page. And a nice note, wishing him a happy birthday, written in sparkling Red letters. They were all very nice and Harry appreciated his friends thought.

At about midday, Ron dragged Harry off for a chess match, which was the plan the girls had come up with to keep Harry occupied while they set up the party down in the kitchen.

Harry couldn't help but be distracted while losing viciously to Ron's excellent chess skills. He was too busy thinking about how this had been his best birthday yet. His past birthdays had been no grand affair, and half the time had not even been mentioned in the Dursley's home.

The worst of all of them would have had to be his 7th birthday. He remembered having asked his aunt why Dudley always received such extravagant parties while he received nothing. IF he had cared to notice at the time he would have noticed the evil scheme planned in her mind, and seen right through the entire episode, but of course he was to young and naïve at the time to realize.

He remembered his aunt waking him up early and calling him down for his 'special' breakfast which consisted of a dry piece of toast and the last scraps of the eggs. He hadn't cared to notice that at the time that wasn't even considered a regular breakfast let alone a 'special' one, he was in his element that he had finally been noticed by his family.

Throughout the day he was set his regular chores, which he did with no argument as aunt petunia had promised him that all his school friends were coming over alter for a little party. He didn't mention to her, that thanks to Dudley's bullying he didn't have any friends at school, for he was once again too excited about the special treatment he was receiving.

When his chores were done he had gone to his cupboard and found the cleanest, most presentable piece of clothing he had and had changed into it, he wanted to look his best for his guests that should be arriving soon. He had even combed his untamable hair for the occasion!

He had then sat and waited. And waited. And waited some more. No one had rung the bell, no one had come through the door, no one had come at all.

He went to ask his aunt where they all had gone, her reply had been ridiculing, she had told him, 'why would anyone come to celebrate an insolent little freak's birthday?' she had laughed then, laughed at the fact that he had believed her, and thought he was 'special'.

He had spent the rest of that day in his cupboard crying, and feeling humiliated, believing every word his aunt had told him, having no reason not to do so.

'Check,' Ron said, aware that Harry was only half paying attention, and using that to his advantage to win their fifth game in a row.

Harry was barely aware that Ron had said anything at all and quickly moved his king before thinking in a different direction all together. He wondered what his first and only birthday with his parents had been like.

Surely it hadn't been like any of his birthdays at the Dursley's? Had it? He couldn't have known, if it was; he couldn't remember.

But surely not, surely they had treated him as a special little boy, and had people over to celebrate with them. To celebrate their little boy. He hoped so anyways, how horrible it would be to find out that even his own parents thought him a burden. But from what Sirius and Remus, and even Finn had told him, his parents had loved him very much, and all he could do was believe them. He'd never know for sure.

'Checkmate,' Ron called, successfully winning and ending the match.

Harry shook himself from his musings, that was all in the past now here he was having the time of his life on his special day, he had no idea it was about to get even better.

'Ron, Harry could come down to the kitchen for a minute, there's someone here to see you!' Mrs. Weasley called from the bottom of the stairs.

Harry and Ron got up and began to leave the room, Ron in front and Harry behind him.

Harry was curious as to who was down in the kitchen, he hoped that it wasn't Dumbledore he didn't want to have to put up with him, not today, today he wanted to not think of the future or his safety or anything to do with the war; he just wanted a day of peace and good fun.

Or maybe it was somebody else, but he couldn't think of anyone.

_I guess I'll just have to wait to find out, _Harry thought as they approached the kitchen.

'SURPRISE!!!' Screamed the occupants in a loud joyous fashion.

Harry looked around, his jaw dropping as he did. He didn't believe it. As if this day hadn't been good enough, and then a party on top of it. He had thought something was being planned all week long but he had never connected it to his birthday.

The room looked spectacular, and he had to compliment them on keeping him ignorant of it all, playing chess with Ron all afternoon had been a good cover-up.

The walls and room overall was decorates with what seemed to be at least fifty different coloured balloons, there was streamers lining the walls, and the table! Wow! Harry thought it might collapse under the mounds of delicious food it was holding, along with the mound of wonderfully decorated presents that lay upon it.

Finally, he looked at the people it seemed that apart from the Weasley's and Hermione, a large majority of the order had come not including Snape and a few others. Finn and McGonagall were there too, along with Hagrid.

'Wow,' He finally said, he still couldn't believe they'd do this for him, 'this is so… thanks you guys, and this is great!'

'Well come on. Lets get this party started!' one of the twins shouted, he wasn't sure who.

They all laughed, and then the party did just that, music began playing loudly and chatter, dancing, and all around fun began.

Harry was enjoying himself immensely, he even had courage enough to dance a few dances, once with Hermione, one with Ginny, and two with Tonks since she had insisted on teaching him some hip dance moves, as apparently- to her standards- his were dismal.

A little while later, Harry had been seated in a chair, and began to open the pile of gifts that sat on the table, each one Harry had loved all so much.

Charlie and Bill had given him a stylish pair of Dragon hide boots, made specially to protect the wearer's feet against simple curses and hexes. They quietly had told him that they were godsend when around angry women. Charlie had made it clear that no harm had come to the animal, and it had died naturally in its den, otherwise he never would have agreed to give such a gift.

Ron had given him an interesting Quidditch Book and a large bag of honey duke's sweets, which in his mind was a great gift.

Hermione had given him a snitch that she had found in the quality quidditch supply store. She had read that most seekers carried their own snitches, and thought it was time that Harry had one of his own to keep up with practice. It had even come with a note: _Practice Makes Perfect! Happy Birthday Harry –from Hermione,_ she was even studious about quidditch!

Ginny surprised him with her gift. It was a picture frame with a picture she had asked Remus for, it was one of the three true marauders and Lily together at Hogsmeade in their seventh year, Peter wasn't in the picture so he presumed that he was the one to take it but he didn't mind this gift was great and he would treasure it.

Fred and George had given him a brightly coloured package containing every prank known to man, though Fred and George said they had only been able to fit a quarter of their inventory in the box. This had made Harry believe that they were even bigger geniuses then he had originally thought, though in their right, being pranksters they could have just been pulling his leg. They had also given him a comb, saying that now that he had one, he might be able to fix that hair of his! Everyone had chuckled at this, including Harry.

Finn and Minerva had given him a new exploding snap card set, seeing as his old deck was getting a little worse for the wear, as well as a bag of sugar quills, Finn had always gotten such a kick out of them 'candy made for a classroom, why aren't muggles so inventive!' he would say.

Dobby had knitted him some of his specially designed socks, and included a matching hat, that Fred and George had a fun time making fun of Harry for and had stuck it down on his head against his pleas not to. Harry sat embarrassed, while the women awed at how adorable he looked, and the men laughed; until Tonks had pity on him and removed it.

Tonks and Remus gave him his very own wizarding wireless radio, both agreeing that he needed something other than books and something that was more teenage-like and less studious, and music had seemed to be the best option next to quidditch things.

The order had all pitched together on their gift and given him a years worth of free drinks at the Three Broomsticks. Harry would be able to get as many drinks from the place as he wanted until July 31st of next year, and wouldn't pay a cent for them, courtesy of the order, a great gift in his mind.

And finally as if the party wasn't enough, Mrs. And Mr. Weasley contributed nicely with a large slab of honey dukes finest as well as several homemade delights to snack on later.

Overall the birthday offered a great selection of gifts, no one had any heavy ideas of Harry needing to prepare for war and therefore needing a library of spell books, and an assortment of devices in which to learn from and use in combat. This was just the way Harry wanted it. Just good fun and laugh with friends, nothing overbearing.

Soon a chant of 'cake, cake, cake' had been started up by the twins, and Harry found himself seated in front of a large homemade sponge cake with sugar icing smothered all over it. The words 'happy birthday Harry' was written in a large curvy green print across the length of the delicious looking cake.

A large chorus of 'Happy Birthday' was started up and Harry smiled at them all as they sang, embarrassed, yet enjoying it all the same.

'Make a wish Harry!' Ginny shouted, as they finished the song.

Harry thought carefully of what to wish for, not sure what he wanted there were so many things, but what to pick…

'Hurry up already, your going to melt the cake' Ron complained, impatient to start eating as usual.

Someone smacked him, and Harry smiled, and then it struck him '_I wish that my friends will be safe from whatever is coming' _and with that he blew out his candles.

Just as he did, he heard a great big POP, all the balloons had burst when he had blown out the flames, and confetti was flying all over the place, sparkling up the already sparkling room. The guests, and Harry all left, it was so very obvious that this was the twins doing, who else would think up such a suitable event for a birthday.

The cake was cut and passed around and soon everyone had broken off into the groups and was having fun, laughing and chatting with friends and family members. Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny were standing off in one corner of the room, eating their cake and laughing at the twins and Tonks the only three who had made it back out on the dance floor, and were proceeding to dance the oddest steps they had ever seen.

After the crazy song and dance had ended, a new one began a slow one. One that had all three crazy party-animals heading back to their groups. Instead Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had claimed the floor and had danced around, moving as one.

As the song ended, Ron asked if he could speak to Hermione for a minute, he said it was important. He had realized something as his parents were asking, and if he didn't confess soon he'd lose his nerve.

'Can't it wait Ron, I mean we're celebrating,' Hermione had answered, not noticing his pleading eyes and reddening ears.

'NO, I mean no it can't wait, just please?' he all but begged.

'Fine, Ginny will you hold this for a minute,' passing her plate to her friend, and walking into the hall with Ron, where it was more quiet and private.

'So, what's so important?' She asked, wondering, what Ron had to say that couldn't be said in front of Harry or Ginny.

'Er…well… I' who was he kidding he couldn't do this! 'I… its just er… um.'

'Well when you've figured it out, come find me,' she said, turning around to head back to the party.

'Ilikeyou!'

She stopped in her place and turned around, had she just heard, what she thought she just heard?

'its just, I've been trying to tell you forever and then I saw my parents on the dance floor, so happy and all, and I dunno I just thought I'd give it a shot and tell you, so?'

Hermione smiled, she thought that's what he had said, and about time too! She had been waiting for him to tell her since she had arrived. 'oh Ronald, ever the procrastinator!' she said before moving forward and giving him a hug.

'So does this mean you like me back?' he asked dumbly, wanting confirmation.

'Of course it does, you idiot. What did you think?'

'Apparently not what I should have been' Ron replied before smiling and taking a risk he kissed her quickly on the lips.

When it ended, they stood there awkwardly, 'well er, I guess we should go back in then, shouldn't we?'

'Yeah probably,' Hermione replied.

They went back through the door and walked back over to Harry and Ginny, who both had identical grins across their faces.

'So?' Ginny asked.

'So what?' Ron asked back.

'Did he tell you?' Harry asked Hermione.

'How the hell did you know what I was telling her?' Ron said loudly.

'Well first off Ron, its obvious you've liked her for a while, and that she's liked you. Secondly why else would you ask to speak with her alone? And thirdly, you're holding hands, and I for one doubt that Hermione would let you do so had you not just gotten together, so?' Harry asked again, smiling at his two best friends knowingly.

'Well why don't you tell me. Mr. Know It All!' Ron replied, though his smile ruined the affect of the 'insult'.

'Congratulations guys, it's about time!' Harry said, smiling brightly.

Ginny gave Hermione a hug and they went over to a pair of chairs and proceeded to chat all about it.

'Your not bothered by it Harry? Are you?' Ron asked, realizing that it might make Harry uncomfortable to have his two best friends dating each other.

'What? Are you kidding? Of course not, I've been rooting for you too as long as everyone else has!' Harry exclaimed.

'Were we really that obvious?' Ron asked, curiously.

'Painfully obvious, even the first years noticed!' Harry replied, chuckling.

'Damn and I thought I was hiding it well.'

'Well you thought wrong then didn't you!'

'Yeah I guess I did, wouldn't be the first time,' Ron smiled.

The group had continued to talk, laugh, and eat for the remainder of the evening. At one point the room had broken into a chaotic cake fight started surprisingly with Remus smearing cake on Tonks face, and after that cake was flying in ever which way direction. It was unavoidable, even Mrs. Weasley and McGonagall had thrown a piece which had shocked everyone.

As the evening died down, Harry thanked everyone to the point where they threatened to take it all back if he thanked them again. He went to bed that night knowing he'd remember this day for the rest of his life, his first birthday party, his best friends finally getting together, and all the fun in-between.

He slept the best he had long while that night, a perfect end to a perfect day.

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The following morning everyone had woken up late, sleeping in after their exhausting but exciting day, yesterday. The members of the household had trickled down slowly to the kitchen for some breakfast, among the first to wake up was Remus.

He sat at the table, reading the morning edition of the daily prophet skimming it for news of anything worth knowing. Eventually he found the most interesting article he could- a report of a mass breakout of hinkypunk's somewhere up in northern Ireland- and began to read the extroadinarly dull report.

That was until a second owl, came through the window. One which he didn't believe belonged to any member of the house. It landed beside him, sticking a leg out on which a letter was tied; and proceeded to wait for remus to clear it of its burden.

Remus quickly untied the letter, looking curiously at it the entire time. Sure enough the letter, was addressed to him. He decided to save himself further curiousity and open it.

A brief note was scrawled in messy writing across the parchment.

_Remus,_

_I know this may seem incredibly odd for you to read, as you like many others have presumed me dead for many a year now. But if it is not too much trouble, I would greatly appreciate you meeting me at the three broomsticks at four o'clock today, so I can explain myself better._

_You're Friend,_

_Seb McCoy._

Remus' face paled, as he read who it was from, the letter's words were right, he had thought him dead, dead for a long time.

'Shocking, isn't it?' a voice called from near the fireplace.

Remus jumped, startled out of his memories, to see Dumbledore standing by the fire, having just floo'ed in.

'It's true?'

'Quite so, He approached me a few days ago now, with a legitimate story.'

Remus nodded staring back at the page, Seb McCoy was his friend from his Hogwarts days, a friend of all the marauders; a fellow Gryffindor dorm mate. He had been presumed dead after an attack on his home three months before Lily and James had died. The ministry had not been able to find a body, but his home had been practically demolished, so there had been little hope of finding one.

It was overwhelming having all these people reappear in his life, why now? Why not before and why at all? Not that he wasn't glad to hear that his friends had in fact not perished but why hadn't they come sooner, he could have used both Finn's and Seb's support over the years with Sirius in jail, and Lily and James dead, he would have become a lot less of a loner.

Despite his small annoyance at their impromptu arrival back into his life, he was glad to hear from Seb, and glad that Finn had come back into their world. He decided he would give Seb the chance to explain himself, when he met him later this afternoon.

When Remus looked up from the letter this time, Dumbledore had left again through the floo; he obviously had some meeting of a sort to get too and couldn't be late. Though he had left four envelopes on the table beforehand.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'AAAAAH' Hermione squealed, in a nervous excitement.

'What is it dear?' Mrs. Weasley asked coming over to the table herself.

'OWL results, I thought they wouldn't get here for at least another week or so. Oh I hope I did alright' she said worriedly, as she clutched tightly to her envelope stamped with her name in a dark green ink.

'They'd be fools if they failed you Hermione,' Harry said with a cheerful smile, he was still in a good mood from his birthday celebration yesterday.

Hermione blushed prettily, as the rest of the kitchen agreed, but did have a small proud smile present on her face.

'well what are you waiting for then open them, let's see those good results' Mrs. Weasley commanded.

Hermione ripped hers open so fast she nearly ripped the results as well; Harry was more careful with his but was anxious to see if he received the required results to become an Auror; Ron was hesitant to opening his own, afraid that he would do as badly or worse than the twins.

'Ten OWLS and nine of them outstandings, good show Hermione!' Remus said cheerfully to his past student, glad she had done so well, she had even beat his own scores from when he was in school, not that he didn't expect her too.

'thanks Remus, I would have had all ten outstanding if I only at the time and remembered the year the warlocks convention outlawed dragon breeding, I wrote 1715 I should of known it was 1709,' Hermione said slightly disappointed in herself.

'You can't have 'em all, Hermione. Your scores were really good, congratulations,' Ron said, taking her hand is his and smiling proudly at her.

'Thanks Ron, how'd you do?'

'Well no where near as well as you. I got 8 Owls, two outstanding's – one in Defense and in some impossible way Transfiguration don't know how I possibly did that. I botched Divination entirely- damn I so wanted to be the next Trelawney' Ron said sarcastically.

'Ron Language!' Hermione and Mrs. Weasley chorused.

Ron cringed.

Swiftly changing the topic, Ron asked Harry how he had scored.

Harry looked at his list of scores again:

_**ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS**_

_**Pass Grades Fail Grades**_

_**Outstanding (O) Poor (P)**_

_**Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)**_

_**Acceptable (A) Troll (T)**_

_**Astronomy: A**_

_**Care of Magical Creatures: O**_

_**Charms: O**_

_**Defense: O**_

_**Divination: A**_

_**Herbology: E**_

_**History of Magic: D**_

_**Potions: E**_

_**Transfiguration: E**_

_**Total: 8 OWLS**_

He was quite pleased with his scores, though he wished he had done better on his Potions, not because he particularly cared for the class. But because without an OUTSTANDING grade he couldn't qualify for the NEWT class, and without that he couldn't pursue his dream of becoming an Auror. But he would forget about it for now, no use dwelling on it.

"I've got 8 OWLS too," Harry announced modestly.

"Well done all of you, I'm very proud and pleased to hear it," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

Ron blushed heavily at his mother's satisfaction, and Harry felt a surprisingly gleeful to hear of her pride in him, no one had ever shown him that before.

"Well, I wish I could stay and celebrate your good marks with you all, but I'm off to a meeting. I shall be back later this afternoon. Well done you three," Remus congratulated.

Harry looked at Remus curiously, it wasn't any of his business who Remus was meeting with but it did not stop his curiosity of whom in fact the person was. But as the plate of bacon passed his way, he let himself forget it and dug into his second helping of breakfast.

**A.N. So there ends another chapter, not particularly my favorite as there was little action to be had, but I hope it was not completely dismal.**

**Now all I have to do now is kindly ask for you all kind people to review my story. I mean I know everyone has something better to do than remark on some passing-of-the-time story they've been reading but don't you ever just want an outlet where you can tell the author of a story or a writer of any capability how they made a mistake and its bugging you or that they really liked an idea or they thought one of the scenes was way to cliché and lifeless well im giving you the chance to do that so hit that review button and type out however many lines of criticism and response as you like and I promise that I'll respond to it. Well Thanks to those that have taken the time to read this, and for those who will review I really appreciate your response and time. **

**Cheers**

**Petroleumjellydotone. **


	7. Chapter 7: Income Tax

**Chapter Seven: Income Tax**

Members had been trickling in for about half an hour now, and now they all were assembled around the large kitchen table waiting for Albus Dumbledore to show.

Finn sat in the corner by the fire, he was hoping that tonight the order would recognize him as a member again, and he could get back to doing the only thing he could really do to help there side. Finn sat absentmindedly watching the potions master- whom seemed quite uncomfortable to be sitting in the same room as he was.

He didn't blame Severus for being there that night, nor did he blame him for what he had to do, he knew to what cause Severus truly gave his service. And he did not blame him for his wife's death one bit, not one bit.

Severus himself did not believe his actions were forgivable, and to the very day still felt terrible at having been part of that particular death. He had killed as part of his spy duties before; he hadn't wanted to, he had never taken a liking to killing the innocent like the other death eaters. But that was simply because he wasn't like the other Deatheater's, he had gone well, well as good as a former Deatheater could go. He was not oblivious to the fact that he was a grumpy, miserable old sod; in fact he was quite well aware of that matter. But the lack of freedom, the near lifetime of servitude, and constant worry of whether Voldemort suspected him of being a traitor had weighed him down and morphed him into a man with very little hope to strive by.

As Severus and Finn were lost in their thoughts, Dumbledore had arrived through the floo. Wearing brilliant navy robes, he strode out of the fireplace, brushing the soot of his shoulders, before he greeted the party gathered in the basement kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

'Well then, shall we begin, my friends?' He asked with his customary smile and a small twinkle in his blue eyes.

The following morning at breakfast, the room's occupants were in various states of hurriedness.

Harry and Finn were discussing Finns reacceptance into the order from the night before. Finn was quite excited that he was able to help again, and was listing off all the things he would have to refresh his memory on.

Harry listened throughout the tale, though he kept getting stabs of annoyance whenever Finn mentioned Dumbledore's name. That man was frustrating him to no end, he still had yet to talk to him since there argument a few weeks back and it was only making him more upset with the old man. But Harry was quite glad that Finn had been reinstated into the order, he knew that Finn would need something to do when both he and professor McGonagall had returned to school, and this was such a perfect job for him.

The twins were eating enough food to feed the whole of Hogwarts staff table and talking rapidly of new ideas that kept springing into their inventive minds.

Ron too was scarfing down food as though it was about to disappear.

Hermione looked on at her boyfriend and his brothers with an obvious expression of disgust forming on her face as she daintily sipped her tea.

Remus – who had looked decidedly cheerier since his lunch meeting a few days ago- was quietly sitting at the end of the table having a hushed conversation with Tonks, of which no outside parties could catch a word of, though they seemed to be laughing quite hard at times.

Molly was dishing out more food to those whose plates looked a little on the empty side, namely Harry's.

Arthur was reading the Daily Prophet with a stern expression on his face as he read a column on Fudge's latest public speech.

Minerva looked as if she was waiting for the opportune moment to but into Harry and Finns conversation. She was holding a small envelope in her hand and tapping her finger absentmindedly on the table top.

The opportunity had arisen sooner than thought, as Finn stopped his story for a moment to take a bite of his breakfast. As he did so she quickly interrupted and called upon Harry- Finn looked highly affronted as he had just been getting to the good part, and proceeded to glare at his sister for a full five seconds before taking another bite of bacon.

'Yes, Professor?' Harry asked curiously.

'Well, Potter as you know, since Miss. Johnson's graduation this past year, the position of quidditch captain is vacant. Now, at the end of last year, Miss. Bell approached me, and informed me that due to her studies she would not be in a position to take the spot. Therefore, I have to look at the next most seasoned player to take on the responsibility, and that is in fact, you, Mr. Potter,' Minerva said matter-of-factly, as she passed him the envelope she was holding.

Harry looked at her in disbelief, as he opened the envelope to reveal the shiny quidditch captain badge. He ran his hand over its shiny surface, before looking up once more. He looked around at the rest of the table members, all whom had stopped the chatter and were watching the events between Harry and McGonagall play out.

He looked back down at the badge, for a moment only he felt prideful of the achievement, before he remembered a little eleven year old whose dream was to become head boy, and quidditch captain. And he knew that this badge wasn't meant for him, and with that, his mind was made up.

'Well, Potter?'

'Er, professor, with all due respect. I think you've made a mistake.'

'How so?' Minerva asked curiously.

'Well, do you honestly believe that someone like myself- who can't even win a chess match-, could possibly strategize, structure, and manage a team?'

'What are you saying, Potter?'

'I'm saying that, if you want to keep that quidditch trophy in your office, to pass the badge along to the one person, I know, who can do the job successfully,' Harry said smiling.

'Oh, and whom might that be?' Minerva asked, playing along. She was quite sure of whom Harry had in mind.

'Why Ron Weasley of course' Harry answered.

Ron, who up to this point, had been staring at Harry as if he had gone bonkers, suddenly turned red all over.

'Are you sure Potter?'

'As ever'

'Very well then, Mr. Weasley, do you accept the badge?'

Ron looked over at Harry, making sure that he wanted to do this. Harry nodded an affirmative. Ron smiled at him, thankful to have a friend who would give up an opportunity like managing the Gryffindor's Quidditch team up, so he could have the honour. He then turned to McGonagall and said, 'you bet your bloody boots, I do'

'Ahem' several ladies uttered in unison.

'Ah, I mean of course I'll take it, thank you professor' He said, as Harry handed over the shiny badge.

The Weasley family watched as Harry did so, noting that he did not seem to regret his decision one bit. If Harry wasn't already considered a part of the family, this act of kindness and thoughtfulness would have surely sealed the deal on it.

As the table's regular chatter resumed- though it was mainly centered around Ron's new position as captain- Minerva mumbled to herself, 'that cup better stay in my office, Potter'

Harry who had heard her from his seat, leaned over and quietly replied, 'Don't worry, _Minnie_ it will.'

Minerva was shocked at first, at Harry's daring to call her that, before she began to chuckle- something she did rarely. As she did, Harry smiled.

A few days after Ron became Quidditch captain, the group that still attending Hogwarts was set the task of picking their classes for the upcoming year.

This year they had put a requirement on History of Magic, when Ron had loudly asked why the hell they had to continue with the dull course, McGonagall simply told him that they had refined the curriculum and the staff at Hogwarts as well as the majourity of the school governors agreed that the information could be of some help during the coming years. After that Ron hadn't said anymore on the subject, though he wasn't particularly excited about continuing it.

Harry looked to where he _was_ able to choose which lessons he would like to attend, he quickly checked off Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Charms, and-

Harry put his quill down in sudden realization. He couldn't take potions; he only received an Exceeds Expectations on his O.W.L. exam. He couldn't be an Auror now.

Remus was seated across the table and looked up to see a downcast Harry.

'What's the matter there, Harry?' He asked concerned for the boy.

'What, huh, oh nothing. Well, it's just. I can't be an Auror, Remus.'

'What are you on about of course you can-'

'No I can't, Snape doesn't let anyone with out an Outstanding on the O.W.L.S and I only got an Exceeds Expectations. And there's no way that Snape would let me in his class with that, if he'd even let me back at all that is…'

Through this conversation, Remus suddenly remembered his lunch meeting from nearly a week ago now…

_Remus had apparated to the Three Broomsticks in time for his meeting with his old school friend, Seb._

_He was hoping that he had been the first to arrive as he wasn't sure if he would recognize his schoolmate._

_Against what he'd hoped he wasn't the first to arrive. He nearly fell over in the shock of seeing his past friend, sitting at the Marauders old table, sipping a butterbeer. The guy hadn't changed a bit, with the exception of a few years added to his age._

_He had fine dark brown hair that matched his dark eyes. A narrow prominent moustache rested above his upper lip, with a small stylish goatee not much longer than an index finger that protruded from his chin. He had always had a strange resemblance to Sirius and they had often joked that Sirius had been swapped with another baby when he was born. _

_As Remus was remarking on his friend's unchanged appearance, Seb noticed that he had arrived._

'_Remus! Is that you?' He said, draining his drink and coming over to meet Remus._

'_Seb? You have changed a bit!'_

'_Well I could say the same for you mate, it's as if we saw each other just yesterday! Come, come sit down, have a butterbeer or something a bit stronger, if you like.'_

_Shaking his head, at Seb's ability to shrug off the fact that they hadn't seen each other for, oh say fifteen years now! Not to mention the fact everyone thought he was dead. He was really sick of the dead reappearing. why if Lily or James show up next, I think I may just go insane! Okay so that was a bad joke…_

_Remus joined Seb at the table and Seb handed him a ice cold butterbeer, of which he immediately gulped down at least half of._

'_So then…' Remus ventured, anxious to hear the reason Seb suddenly contacted him._

'_So then what?' Seb asked, not catching on._

'_Well, I figured you didn't just suddenly spring up out of nowhere without a reason, so?'_

'_Oh right, sorry. I guess you do deserve an explanation. So what do you wanna know?' Seb asked, he looked nervous, no he looked ashamed._

'_Well, how about you start by telling me why you left. What happened mate? I mean, we all thought you died, we went to your funeral, and I saw your casket being lowered into your grave…'_

'_I know, I saw it too, do you have any idea how disturbing it is to watch your own funeral procession, gives me the shivers even now!' Seb expressed, while rubbing his arms of Goosebumps._

_Remus looked at his mate, curiously, obviously questioning the man's last statement._

_Seeing the Remus' curious glance, Seb spoke again, 'I guess it'll be best if I start at the beginning of the story, instead of half way through,' he chuckled nervously._

'_Yes I think that'd be best, though if I do remember correct you never really got the hang of starting at the beginning in any conversation so I can't say im too surprised there,' Remus smiled._

_Seb chuckled along with Remus as he remembered that he had never quite grasped the concept of beginning a conversation at the rightful spot to start- the beginning that is. _

'_Right then, well do you remember a few months before I disappeared, I had a girlfriend named Adele?'_

'_Yes, I remember that, the brunette, very timid girl,' Remus mused._

'_Timid my ass! Ahem, anyways, you know then that I was at the time completely infatuated with her, loved her dearly. That was until I found out the real reason she had come to me. She was sent by Voldemort, she was a Deatheater, assigned to get close to me. To persuade me to join the 'Dark Lord'. She said he believed I could do great things by under his command, and that he could offer me rewards that Dumbledore and the Ministry could merely only dream of._

'_Of course, I refused the offer, and ended the relationship quickly. I was crushed; I thought I had finally found 'the one' and all. I slowly forgot about her over the next few months, and concentrated on the job, as you are quite aware times were getting harder and harder then. Raids and attacks nearly every day it wasn't hard to forget of her existence in my life. That was until I began receiving threats through my post. I didn't think much of it at the time, I mean; it is not completely uncommon for Aurors to receive a death threat every now and then. I could ignore it once, and even twice, but after the third message I began to worry. _

'_They were persistent that they were going to kill me, so much so that I was becoming more paranoid than old mad-eye! Watching my back where-ever I went, even in the bloody loo! Eventually after the threats began getting more serious, I realized that the threats were inescapable and that one of these days I was going to get caught, and I would die. So, I decided to, sort of…beat them to the punch line. I staged an attack on my home, bashed up the furniture, you know made it look as if there was some sort of struggle. Then I packed up some necessities and disappeared from the wizarding community all together._

'_I've been living up in the Orkney Islands, biding my time till I deemed it safe to come back.'_

_Remus had been in awe up till this point but suddenly he asked, 'but it surely hasn't taken fifteen years for it to be safe for your return, has it?'_

'_No, of course not Remus. It was safe years ago, but I didn't see reason to come back with no girlfriend to return to, Sirius in Jail, Peter dead, and James and Lily gone too! I couldn't handle it!'_

'_I was here, I was here, suffering and mourning their deaths all alone! Don't you think I wanted to leave? Don't you think I wanted to forget it all, and leave it behind?' Remus argued, he was angry at Seb for not coming back, they could have worked through their friends' deaths together, and been better for it. But Seb hadn't come back._

'_I'm sorry Remus, truly I am. I was a coward, a coward for running and a coward for not coming back sooner. I was trained to be brave and stand up to against the dark forces, even if it meant my death. And I gave in, and ran for the hills. Please forgive me Remus; I am weaker than you are'_

_Remus thought this over for a few minutes, he could see some logic in that somewhere, though it still stung him. _

'_Its okay, Seb, your back now,' Remus smiled._

_Seb smiled weakly in return, he had felt incredibly guilty for leaving Remus to fend for himself, but he couldn't take it back now he was fifteen years too late for that!_

'_Speaking of being back…why are you back? Not that it isn't good to see your grubby face' Remus joked._

_Seb rolled his eyes, in a very Remus-like fashion, and continued with his story, 'I'm not really sure why I just suddenly turned up, and it wasn't something I particularly planned or anything. I just missed the action, the magic you know. Orkney Islands were fine for a while but it wasn't home. Besides once news of Voldemort's return reached me, I wanted a second chance, a chance to redeem myself. I went to Dumbledore, first thing when I arrived. And well I gave him this sorry ass excuse, and well he thinks he's found me a place to prove my worth,' Seb said smiling mischievously._

'Remus? Earth to Remus?' Harry called out to his old professor, he had been spacing out for the past five minutes now.

Remus blinked suddenly as he heard Harry call his name, 'Sorry, Harry. Er… what were we talking about? Oh yes that's right, potions. I wouldn't give up just yet, check the box,' Remus said smiling knowingly.

Harry looked at him curiously, but took his advice anyways and checked the box, maybe there was hope of making an Auror out him yet!

A couple of weeks had passed by since; Harry and the rest had sent their school forms back up to Hogwarts.

The weeks had passed by normally enough. Harry had only one other vision, it was just another attack on a village in southern England. Harry had a feeling that this was going to become a recurring event over the next few months or so. He had lost a few nights sleep from bad dreams, and frustrating thoughts that left him awake well into the night.

With just a week before school Harry had felt he had a lot to accomplish. He was glad that he had finished his homework already, thanks to Hermione's insistence that they would have a better summer if the summer work wasn't hanging over their heads all summer.

Dumbledore had apparently sent word with Professor McGonagall that he had arranged a trip to Diagon Alley for them all so that they could get what they needed for the new school year, and have a wander about, Harry couldn't wait to see Fred and George's shop. Though once again he was annoyed by the fact that he wasn't even allowed into town without Dumbledore arranging and scheduling the time, guard, etc.!

The morning of their visit to Diagon Alley finally arrived. Remus and Tonks had been put on guard duty, Harry was glad that at least Dumbledore hadn't assigned any more than two guards, but then he remembered that with Charlie, Bill, Fred and George, and Mrs. Weasley being around as well, two extra was more than enough!

Not that he minded Remus and Tonks coming along, He was on quite a friendly basis with both of them, and their company would be appreciated. He just wished that they weren't there to watch over him and make sure he didn't even do as much as break a nail!

Since Grimmauld Place was just on the edge of London, the group opted for taking a regular muggle cabs to the Leaky Cauldron- well were it would be if the muggles could see it.

Remus, Bill, Harry and Ginny were moved into the first cab, while Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Charlie, and Tonks crammed into the second one- Fred and George were already at work, ready to please their prankster customers with their prank-goods.

The cab was awkwardly quiet the whole drive, nobody barring Remus tried to strike up a conversation, but when he was met with just murmurs and grunts in return he remained silent as well for the rest of the trip.

They arrived outside the Leaky Cauldron and Tonks and Remus handled paying the cab-fare, Harry was surprised to learn that the two weren't confused by the muggle currency but then remembered that with Tonks being an Auror, and Remus being heavily involved in the order they must have needed some sort of basic education on muggle-dealings, but then how would he explain Mr. Weasley's confusement over muggle currency?

'Well then, shall we?' Tonks said brightly. She was sporting aqua coloured hair today, done up in high pigtails that swayed back and forth as she walked.

Harry was glad that he was finally out, out of Grimmauld place, just plain out of any house. He had had some freedom at the Dursley's, but not enough to just run off to London when he pleased. He thought it was sad to admit that he believed it to be a rare treat to go to town, an insult to teenage wizards and witches everywhere, it was.

They quickly made there way through the fairly empty pub- it was still quite early in the morning- after greeting Tom with a wave and a quick hello, they were on their way.

Mrs. Weasley did the honours of opening the archway to the cobbled street of Diagon Alley. Where Shops lay ready to be shopped in, and people walked ready to buy magical goods.

He always found this the best part of Diagon Alley; it always caught him by surprise that such a bland wall open up to such a magically lively place completely different from the dingy muggle streets that lay just a few yards away. As the others hurried through, Harry lingered a moment, to savour the feeling of enthusiastic joviality that reeked through the street.

'Come on Harry, stop daydreaming! We're going to see Fred and George,' Ron complained.

Shaking his head, 'keep your tights on Ron, I'm comin,' he replied, as he ran to catch up with the rest of them.

'Now dears, I'm going off to the Flourish and Blotts, now I'll meet you at the shop when I'm done, don't go anywhere else, and listen to Remus and Tonks they're in charge,' Mrs. Weasley said, she looked worried to be leaving her children out in such an open and public area, where anything could happen.

'Oh, Mrs. Weasley, please let me come with you, please!' Hermione looked desperate to accompany Mrs. Weasley to the book shop. She had been away from its shelves for so long, she was having withdrawal symptoms.

Mrs. Weasley relented, knowing that Hermione would much rather flick through the pages of a book then look through shelves of toys and pranks. She asked if Ginny would like to come as well, but she replied in the negative saying she needed a new supply of nose-biting teacups, and she had an itching to finally see the business, that her two brothers had built up from scratch, with the financial help of Harry that was.

So it was. The two groups headed off in separate directions, Mrs. Weasley and Hermione to Flourish and Blotts, and the rest of them to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

Soon enough the group had reached the twins shop, they knew it was theirs not from the sign hanging by the door, but from the mere structure of the building itself.

With stripes of orange, and purple and checkers of red and yellow, it stood out grandly among the dully coloured shops that surrounded it. The doors were an odd carving, wonky shaped too, but they fit together like puzzle pieces and were coloured a violent shade of blue.

The twins had gone…all out with their decorating, and no one could argue it wasn't fitful of pranksters. Even the Welcome Mat had a tripping device in it. Something that Bill was unaware of as he stepped straight on it, and resulted in smacking his head into the door.

Tonks, Ginny, Ron and Charlie laughed at their brother, how could he have not expected that one? Harry stood awkwardly, not laughing simply because he knew that if it had been him, he too would have fallen for it. Remus helped Bill to his feet, before chuckling himself; those two were so much like the marauders!

After the small incident they all carefully headed indoors, knowing to expect a prank around every corner.

As Harry stepped over the threshold, he was hit with a burst of colours all at once, Purples from the shelves, glittering green from the ceilings, and bright yellow shining up from the floorboards. Everything about the place was frivolous and lighthearted, and just so worthy of the twins.

The place itself was no palace, but somehow its smallness fit the prank shop to a tee. It seemed to make each and every prank you came across that much bigger and more exciting.

It was not overly crowded as of the moment, but like the situation with the Leaky Cauldron, it was still early morning. Harry assumed that the place would be filled come lunchtime, especially with school approaching.

'Well if it isn't our own flesh and blood'

'Come to visit, the esteemed establishment, that we consider our humble abode?' Fred announced coming out from behind the counter.

'Or perhaps, they have come to visit the esteemed brothers that they call their very own?' George chimed in, coming out of the stock room with a box in his hand.

'Actually I'm just here for the family discount,' Ginny spoke up.

'Why, I'm hurt, Ginny!' George said, taking on a look of someone who had taken strong offence to something.

Ginny smiled and shook her head at her brother's antics, before she demanded them to give them the grand tour. That was something Harry had noticed about Ginny- among other things- she was in complete control of her brothers. Her demands, and even simple requests were followed by all six of her brothers and occasionally-he noticed- even her father.

Fred showed them around the store pointing out the new inventions that they had invented since last year including fake toilet seats that evaporated as soon as you sat on them, Harry noted to watch out for those around Hogwarts, Ginny and Remus pulled a disgusted face, that was too much prank and disgust in one product for either of the two prank lovers.

He also showed them the stock room, as well as their own personal office that was set up behind the counter.

'This is where we think up all our brilliantly genius inventions and ideas to keep pranking alive, and the customers happy!' He announced to the group.

'You might find you'd get _more_ business, if you didn't welcome your customers by tripping them up!' Bill put out there, rubbing his head where he had hit the door.

'Well, any _sensible_ prankster would be able to tell that there was a tripping device there!' Fred spoke happily back.

The group laughed, as Bill blushed prettily. He knew, himself, that it was stupid not to predict such a thing from his mischievous brothers. After all he had lived with their antics for years; he was foolish not to expect it!

'So what do you think?' Fred asked for their opinion as they came back out of the office.

'Bloody Brilliant!' Ron announced, looking around at all the pranks. He had always had a mischievous streak like the twins and Ginny, but his just was not as prominent.

'The marauders would be proud,' Remus added, 'finally someone brave enough to compete with Zonko's!'

'Good then! Well then I'm going to find George, feel free to buy as much as you like!' He announced, before walking off to find his brother.

Harry walked through the aisles, smiling at all the silly inventions; they were one of the only things keeping the world as lighthearted as it was.

As he walked over near the counter, to look at some of the new and improved Weasley Wizard Whizbangs, he heard voices coming through the semi-opened office door. It was Fred and George who were discussing something, with rather serious tones of voice.

Harry couldn't help his curiosity and stayed where he was in order to listen in to the private conversation between brothers.

'How bad is it?' one of the two asked the other.

'Bad enough, that if we don't hit big soon, we'll go under in a matter of a few months,' the other replied.

'That bad, eh?'

'Harry gave us enough to get started, but we've spent the lot of our money on new inventory, and production costs. We're making next to no profit with next to no one stepping foot in Diagon Alley since the Daily Prophet announced you-know-who was back. I dunno about you, but this dream of ours isn't turning out so successful, from where I'm sitting.'

'I'm sorry to say I have to agree'

'it's a shame, people need laughs now a days, and they won't even come out of their houses long enough to share in the joy of pranks.'

'I know mate, I know'

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. The twins were having difficulty keeping their business running, if he hadn't just heard it from the two themselves he would never have been able to tell.

Damn this war, it even tinted the joviality of jokes and fun! Damn Voldemort, and damn the ministry for installing such fear in every wizard and witch of wizarding Britain! This was a time that they needed every bit of laughter and hope they could have. People were giving up already, and the war had only just really begun. What hope was there for them all, if no one was willing to try, if no one was willing to fight?

Harry had to do something, he couldn't sit and watch the twins dreams fail, just like he couldn't just sit there and watch the wizarding community fall into the grasps of Voldemort.

He put the thought in the back of his mind as he heard footsteps behind him; it was Ginny, her arms loaded with different products.

'Here let me help you,' Harry offered, taking some of the objects off the top of the pile.

He looked at the items in his hand to discover that they were large boxes of dung bombs, belch powder, and ton-tongue toffees. Harry looked at Ginny surprised.

'Someone seems to be planning a few pranks,' Harry pointed out, as Ginny dumped the rest of the items on the counter.

'Well Fred and George won't be there this year, and I figure someone has to fill the void who better than their own sister?' Ginny said smiling.

'Right you are, little sis, and we're going to hold you to that, you too Harry. We can't very well have Ronnykins, and ol' Hermione jeopardizing their prefect-hood,' George said coming out of the office quickly followed by Fred. His serious voice was gone and back was his jolly tone.

Harry smiled; he wouldn't mind the freedom of playing some pranks this year, especially if Ginny was going to be there. Wait! Where did that come from? He wondered.

Harry shook his heads of thoughts that just confused him and followed the twins and Ginny over to the door where the rest of their group was waiting.

'See you all later this evening,' Fred said, waving goodbye before he headed back to the counter to ring up the next customer.

George waved them off and then he too returned to his work. And the group walked out of the prank shop and back onto the cobbled road, heading towards Flourish and Blotts to pry Hermione away from her precious books.

After they met up, and had Remus and Tonks had shrunken all their purchased things, Hermione asked, 'where to next?'

'The Quidditch shop!' Ron and Charlie said at the same time, Charlie had played Seeker back when he was in school and was still as much a fanatic as Ron was, except he rooted for a winning team- the Montrose Magpies.

'First off, you all need new robes; you have all far out grown them over the summer. I swear, you children get older each and every day,' Mrs. Weasley said.

The Weasley children rolled their eyes at there mums remarks on them growing up, it was well known to them that if there was one thing their mother hated as much as Voldemort was her children growing up as fast as they seemed to be.

'but before we do that, we'll have to stop at Gringotts and withdraw some more money,' She continued, flustered, as usual wondering if they would have enough to pay for this years school list, the prices at the shops fluctuated yearly. They may only have two children attended Hogwarts this year but that was still a hefty sum.

Harry would be more than happy to help the Weasley's out with their financial problems, but knew that they were too proud and stubborn to accept it. Suddenly the conversation he had overheard earlier sprang back into his mind, if there were any Weasley's that wouldn't terribly mind having him help them out, it was the twins and he fully intended to do just that, he just needed to talk with someone smart enough to know how to go about it…but who?

As they arrived at Gringotts, Harry approached one of the goblins on duty and presented his gold key- the key to his gringotts vault. Remus had come with him, as even in a place as safe as Gringotts, Harry still needed protection. Tonks had gone with the Weasley's on their own trip to their vault, which held a considerably smaller sum then Harry's did.

'Mr. Potter, are you here to make a withdrawal from your account?' the small goblin asked.

'Yes sir,' he replied formally, knowing that goblins were not to be messed with.

'I must ask if you are aware that quite a large deposit has been placed in your vault since your last withdrawal, it was all signed for, but it is customary to formally inform customers of such a recieval upon their next visit to Gringotts,' the goblin informed him.

Harry was confused, who would have put a large amount of money into his account? Obviously he was the only one, who was oblivious to the money addition as Remus spoke for him, 'No, up until this moment, Mr. Potter has not been briefed on the deposit'

'Well if you would like to see a mark up of your total?' The goblin asked.

'Oh, er… yes please, sir,' Harry said, still quite confused as to where the money came from.

The goblin handed him a small slip of parchment on it was the sum of 600,000 Galleons, 60,000 Sickles, and 6001 Knut. Who the bloody hell had given him so much money?! He knew for a fact that he had less than half of that before the new deposit was placed.

Harry hadn't noticed but his mouth had been open, gaping widely at practically the largest number he had ever seen.

Remus whistled, he knew of the deposit, but not the value of it, he had no idea the man had been so rich, it hadn't shown through all too often, with his laid back, casual personality.

Harry looked up at Remus; the question was expressed through his curious green eyes.

'Who do you think?' Remus said mystically.

Harry thought hard, because quite frankly while he knew many people who were off their rockers, he didn't know anyone who would give up so much money. They'd have to have spent an awful long time with a pair of dementors to- wait a minute…. Sirius!

Of course it was him, it had to be! Nobody else was stupid enough to give him so a grand total of money!

'Sirius gave it to me, didn't he?' Harry said.

Remus nodded, 'I believe so, Harry. Do you remember that letter I received back when you arrived at Grimmauld place?'

Harry thought back, he remembered the letter clearly enough, Remus said that he thought it had been Sirius' will, but he hadn't opened it yet as it was addressed to both of them. Harry nodded at Remus.

'Well I think that is the reason for this sudden rise in your account. You know Harry, we really should take a look at the will soon. I mean I don't want to rush you if don't want to read it yet, but I'm sure that it would be better to know what possessions are now available to us.' Remus said smartly.

Harry nodded again. Sirius had died a couple of months ago now, though he wished to wait longer to open the letter, and prolong the inevitable, he knew Remus was right if they didn't know what it entailed they could neglect a valuable and important thing.

'Sure thing Remus, maybe we could- I dunno- do it later tonight or tomorrow or something? If, that's okay with you?' Harry said unsurely.

'Good then that settled; or well, it will be,' Remus smiled.

'right then, I guess I better go get a few coins then, looks like the Weasley's are back from their trip,' Harry said indicating, the green Mrs. Weasley- she had never liked riding the cart down those winding tracks, as well as the rest of the Weasley's and Tonks.

The group had soon gathered the rest of their necessary items, and had also managed to wander around the different shops for pleasure before they all finally agreed that they were beat. Though Tonks looked as if she could continue for hours longer, she called them all wimps for quitting so early.

They stopped in at the Leaky Cauldron for a Butterbeer and some lunch before they headed back out into muggle London and caught a cab back to Grimmauld place.

Once they were all inside everyone went in separate directions. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all went to go put there purchases away, while Remus, Charlie, Bill, and Tonks went into the drawing room discussing Order affairs quietly. While Mrs. Weasley headed down to the kitchen to start on the dinner for that evening.

After Harry had stacked all his books and robes and other new purchases into his already overflowing trunk, he fed Hedwig a few owl treats, and then walked downstairs to the drawing room his intent was to find Remus.

He found him, eventually, in the drawing room reading the Daily Prophet.

Nervous, for some reason, he cautiously approached the man, clearing his throat to make his presence known.

Remus looked up from the article on a new Belch Powder formula that Zonko's had released yesterday.

'Hi Harry,'

'Er, Hi,' Harry responded.

Why was he so nervous, this was Remus, in other words, the man Harry didn't have a problem talking to. It was only then he realized that he wasn't nervous about talking with Remus but rather it was the fact that he was about to read his godfathers last words to him that had him anxious.

'Can I do something for you?' Remus asked, startling Harry out of his thoughts.

'Oh- um, I was just wondering if we could look at the letter now. But if your busy I'll just come back later,' Harry stammered, ready to run off and ignore the letter for another month.

'No, that's fine; I forgot we were going to do that later today. Let me go get it,' Remus volunteered, he closed the paper and quickly climbed the steps-two at a time.

After a few minutes, Remus came back holding the thick letter. '

'Here we are, sorry I forgot where I put it," he apologized, as he handed Harry the letter.

'S'okay,' He muttered his focus now on the sealed flap. He looked at Remus for consent to open it- it was not just Harry's after all.

'Go for it,' Remus allowed.

Waiting no longer he ripped the seal, now quite eager to see his godfathers writing again. In this larger envelope were two smaller ones. The top one was marked **_Moony _**the bottom one was for him.

He tossed Remus' his, not caring if it reach him or not. Harry then turned to his own personally addressed letter, his nerves suddenly back. What if Sirius wrote something horrible or worse what if he was all nice about it, and therefore made Harry feel even worse about his death?

Despite these nerves, he was still anxious and finally pried open the seal and took out the letter.

_Harry-_

_I'm dead, get over it. I know it's a bit bollocks that once again your left with the short end of the stick but hopefully you'll find some relief in the fact that I haven't left you with absolutely bugger all. The house is yours - though not much of a bachelor's pad- I'm sure you'll get some use of it at some point. Also, I'm certain gringotts has told you by now about the deposit in your account. SURPRISE! Waste it all on chocolate frogs, a new sofa for the den, and a comb- how else will you get a girlfriend? Lastly, I figured that you didn't want the Dursley's to have complete ownership of your now, so I asked an old furry mate of mine to make sure you brush your teeth, wreck havoc on Hogwarts, and don't do anything to stupid. And as for the girl troubles, just relax, redheads aren't as tough as they seem._

_Take it easy,_

_Sirius Black_

Harry smiled, relieved. Sirius had a way of saying things so bluntly you couldn't help but accept them for what they were. Though his words did leave behind some confusion, what girl troubles? He knew he hadn't had much luck with them, but he couldn't help that the only girl he'd ever noticed, used him as a human tissue. And what about redheads? Apart from Ginny he knew none.

'Harry?' Remus interrupted his thoughts.

Harry looked up to see Remus looking happy, if not quite surprised at what his letter entailed.

'Yeah, Remus?'

'Well, I was just wondering if Sirius happened to mention anything about this to you.' Remus questioned handing Harry the second sheet of paper he had in his hands.

_I, Sirius Black, Harry Potters Godfather and legal guardian, hereby give Remus John Lupin the right to the guardianship and care of Harry James Potter until said adolescent reaches adult status in the wizarding world_

_Sirius Black._

Harry seemed surprised, though now he did recall reading something along these lines in his letter, but the last phrase had distracted him.

'Well?' Remus asked, he was worried as to what Harry would think.

'Well, I guess this means your stuck with me.'

'You're okay with it?'

'Of course I am.'

'Good, me too.'

'So, Remus, I was wondering something,' Harry started, now remembering another reason he had originally wanted to speak with Remus.

'Shoot.'

'Well, I have a couple of friends who are going through a bit of a tight spot lately, and I know I want to help them, but I don't want them to know nor do I know how to transact the money or deposit it in their vault and-'

'Whoa, slow down there Harry. Now lets start with how much you want to transfer,' Remus interrupted.

Without hesitation Harry said, '3500 Galleons.'

'Bugger me,' he whispered to himself.

'Now before you give me a lecture on how its a lot of money, let me just tell you that I'm doing this. It's a good thing, Remus. And I have my reasons, plenty of reasons. And I know you could stop me now that you're my guardian but I really hope you don't because I need to do this.'

Remus had a pretty good Idea now, of who the money was for, and he understood what Harry was doing wasn't just about charity.

"The twins found a good friend in you, Harry. Very well, I'm sure we can work something out with gringotts.'

'Just like that?' Harry asked, confused as to why Remus gave in so easily.

'It doesn't have to be difficult, Harry. You need help with something; I'll help you whether I agree with what our doing or not, well to an extent of course. But point being I have your back. Now, any other withdrawals while we're at it?'

Harry thought for a second before he smiled, "yeah I'm thinking about investing in a new sofa, this ones gettin' a bit old.'

**A.N. There be Chapter Seven, and it only took a limited amount of nearly two months to get around to writing, a new record I believe.**

**So let me know what you think of it, in a nice long review, heck any review would be nice!**

**Cheers,**

**Petroleumjellydotone. **


	8. Chapter 8:To the Future

**Chapter Eight:**

**To the Future**

Fred and George were sitting at the table in their office, draining cups of lukewarm tea, and crumpling parchment after parchment, and gaining large stress-induced headaches for their troubles.

It was late, on the night before their two younger siblings were off to another year at Hogwarts, and there they were, sitting with negative figures and an empty bank account trying to make ends meet.

Just as they were about to throw in the lot for the night, and head back to Grimmauld Place for an early rise, a tap came from the small window that overlooked the empty street of Diagon Alley.

Immediately, the two were alert. They looked up to spot a tawny owl tapping the window with its beak. George let it in quickly; shutting the window only after it had departed, having left its parcel on the table atop their wrecked business.

'It's from Gringotts,' Fred announced, after seeing the wax seal.

Worried as to its contents, he opened it with a frown.

_Dear Misters Fred and George Weasley,_

_May we be the first to announce and congratulate you on the deposit added to your business vault, # 1237, on August 29__th__, 1996. The entirety of this installment has come in at a full 3500 Galleons, which places your vaults current total at 3552 Galleons, 10 Sickles, and 23 Knuts. "A fan" who wishes to remain anonymous placed this donation; his only forthcoming message was "to keep the laughter coming." Once again, congratulations on this accumulation please make an appointment with your accounting Gringotts employee to discuss security, interest, etc. at your convenience. We thank you for entrusting us with all your financial needs, and look forward to further business with you, _

_Sincerely,_

_Obsido Tojann, _

_Head of Gringotts Company Deposits_

After having read this to himself, he looked over to his twin with surprise written clearly across his face.

'What? What is it? Is it something bad? Oh, they're not taking the store, are they? Fred, what about the pranks? Well, we're just going to have to work harder, I mean we can just, I dunno, stop buying food and sell some of our gear, I mean we really don't need it, do we? We can't give up yet, Fred! FRED!' George ranted on, aware that he was in full fledge panic, and aware that his twin had barely heard a word he was saying.

'Huh? What were you saying?' Fred asked. He was still so shocked at what he had read that he had not fully heard what his brother was on about.

'What the hell do they want, is what I'm saying,' George said frustrated at the supreme density of his twins head at the current moment.

'3500 Galleons,' Fred muttered, feeling slightly faint as he repeated the sum.

'What did you say?' George asked, unable to hear Fred's mumblings.

'3500 Galleons, somebody, gave _us_ 3500 galleons,' Fred said louder, but still in a realm of shock.

"WHAT!' George practically screamed, grabbing the letter from his brother. Now, he too entered that same realm of shock, who in their right mind- considering they were in their right mind- would give _them _3500 Galleons!

This seemed to be the same question on Fred's mind too. But of course they could only think of one git thick enough to give away a thousand or more gold Galleons, this wizard would also be the only git thick enough to not only do so once, but twice.

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**September 1****st**

Harry and the rest of the household were woken at eight that morning, to ensure that they would be up and ready for the Hogwarts Express, that was due to leave at eleven that morning.

Currently, the students- Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny- were all sitting around the breakfast table enjoying one last breakfast cooked by the Mrs. Weasley, they would have to savour the taste until Christmas, when they could eat it again.

Ron sat stuffing his face as usual, while Hermione and Ginny were giggling wildly about stuff that Harry was sure he did not want to hear.

McGonagall had left the night before, to go back to the school and ready things for the students. Finn had gone along to help her, and explore the castle; he had not been there in so long. He had said his goodbyes to Harry the night before, saying he would see him at Christmas and maybe even a Hogsmeade weekend or two, if Harry could spare some time away from the ladies- or at least that's how Finn had put it.

Fred and George sat across from Harry and kept glancing at him strangely. Harry knew that they'd have to be _really_ dense not to recognize him as "the fan" that sent them the money, by now, but he wasn't going to bring it up before they did, so for now he let them send their suspicious glances.

Remus, and Tonks were nowhere in sight, he had asked Mrs. Weasley who had said that they were out making sure the perimeter was safe for the taxi cabs that would be taking them to King's Cross station. However, Harry had a distinct impression that she wasn't telling him everything. But that was Remus and Tonks' business. Remus may be his godfather now, but that didn't mean he had to tell Harry everything that went on in his life, and nor did Harry.

'All finished Harry?' Fred asked sweetly, too sweetly for the schemer that he was.

Before he could answer, George butted in, 'good, then you won't mind if we have a chat with you upstairs for a minute.'

Harry was about to protest and tell them that he hadn't finished his sausages yet, but decided it was better to just follow them, then to cause a scene in front of Mrs. Weasley- who he knew would not approve of his donation to the twins' shop.

So instead, he nodded his head, and followed the twins out of the room. Ron shot him a curious glance, but Harry pretended he had no clue what was happening and just shrugged his shoulders. He knew that Ron would only flip his lid if he learnt what Harry had done.

Once they were up the stairs the twins turned around to face Harry, they kept their faces stern and serious to the point where Harry actually believed that they were actually angry with him. That was before they both broke into grins, and proceeded to hit him over the back of the head, in an act of affection or maybe an act of thanks.

'So you're "a fan" now, are you, Harry?' George asked, still grinning.

'Ah, so you figured it out after all?' Harry replied, smiling as well.

'Yer, well it doesn't take a genius,' Fred stated.

'Nope, just two look-alike idiots, right?' Harry joked.

'Exactly!' the two said together, they all chuckled.

'But, seriously mate. You didn't have to do that'

'I know I didn't, but I did.

'You two have the market research, product development, and the people skills, but you lack the financial necessities to develop further, expand, and advertise your brilliant pranks.

'And I have that money, and it's just sitting there going to waste. Besides, I didn't do it just for you. The days are getting darker. And as you guys said back in your shop, everyone will need something to laugh about soon enough,' Harry said, his voice taking on a desperate edge, he was nearly pleading with them to accept the money.

'We get ya mate, but we're gonna pay you back. When we're you know, back in the money and everything.'

'If that's what you want, but you don't have to. It isn't a loan; it's a gift, of sorts.'

'Well if that's your idea of a surprise gift, Harry. Then I can't wait till my birthday!' Fred said, grinning again.

Harry laughed, 'so it's settled then? You'll keep the money?'

'Of course we will! Thanks mate.'

'Anytime, oh and uh, do me a favour and don't mention this to anyone, especially Ron, I don't think he'd understand,' Harry said.

Fred and George nodded their heads; they understood that their little brother- as well as the rest of their family- was stubborn mules when it came to charity of any kind, they were proud in what they had. Which Fred and George understood as well, but they also knew that Harry wasn't giving them charity money, he wasn't doing this for the Weasley family's future, but rather for the wizarding world at large, to give back a little happiness.

'Right then, well I have to go get ready, but I suggest that when you find the time, you go talk with Remus. He's got a lot of ideas that I think you guys could benefit from, after all he was a marauder,' Harry said, before he left the twins to go get his trunk.

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They were out the house early enough and they were to have plenty of time before the Hogwarts Express was to leave the station. They had taken three muggle cabs from various locations surrounding the neighborhood of Grimmauld Place, as they needed to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

With the morning traffic in London, it took them nearly a half an hour to get to the station, instead of the usual 15 minute journey, nevertheless they still had a good half hour before the train was due to leave.

After going through the stonewall between platforms nine and ten, they proceeded to say goodbye to their summer companions.

Mrs. Weasley was dabbing at her eyes, in a way mothers do when they watch their children leave for an extended amount of time.

'Oh goodbye dears, do be safe, and I better not hear of any trouble from you Ronald,' she berated.

'Me!' Ron exclaimed.

'Don't give me that face, you all get into such schemes at that school it's a wonder they haven't sent you all packing!' She continued.

'But, it's not like we want to go chasing after mad men and beasts-'

'Ron, it'd be better if you just kept quiet. She's right, you know, it is a wonder that we haven't been expelled,' Hermione advised, trying to keep her new boyfriend from being rapped round the ears by his overly loving mother.

Harry stood back, silently laughing to himself at how quickly Hermione had gotten Ron to yield, Ron must really like her, he thought.

Harry realized they only had a few more minutes before the train was to depart so he hurriedly said his goodbyes to the Weasley's, Tonks, and Remus- whom had told him that he may see him around the school every now and then on odd jobs for Dumbledore.

Soon enough the whistle blew and the four students climbed aboard the train dragging their trunks behind them.

'Guess we should find a compartment then,' Ron said.

'Oh Ron, do not tell me you have forgotten about the prefects meeting!'

'What! Of course not, I knew about it, I just thought it would be more enjoyable if we skipped it and hung out with these two gits instead!' Ron defended himself.

'Nice try, but think again. Now come on we're going to be late!' Hermione said, taking Ron the sleeve and nearly dragging him down the hall.

Ron looked at Harry and Ginny pitifully, begging for help.

'Hey don't look at us, we're just two gits remember!' Harry grinned, while waving obnoxiously at Ron's retreating figure.

'Well, where to now?' Harry asked Ginny.

'Well, Dean's saving me a seat in his car, but I'm sure there's room for you as well,' Ginny declared.

'Are you sure?' Harry asked, not quite sure, whether _he_ wanted to sit in a car with Ginny and Dean openly being boyfriend and girlfriend right in front of him, but then again why should he care? It was not as if Ginny and he were involved in anyway other way then friendship. What was the problem with Ginny having a boyfriend, and being happy? Too much.

'Of course I'm sure, come on.' Ginny said smiling and leading the way down the train.

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Harry was glad when Ron and Hermione turned up, the sight of Ginny and Dean casually talking about their summers and flirting with one another was nearly unbearable. And with only Seamus-whom had fallen asleep nearly fifteen minutes before- to talk with it was hard not to notice the couples affection for each other.

Harry had hoped Ron's presence might install some sort of awkwardness between Ginny and Dean, but unfortunately, Ginny didn't care one iota about what her overprotective older brother thought of her relationships, and they continued as if the trio wasn't even present.

Ron and Harry started up a game of wizard's chess though both of them were far to distracted by Ginny's giggles to pay much attention to the barbaric game. Hermione was engrossed in one of her sixth year texts that she had already read twice, and was now just reviewing, out of lack of anything better to do.

Eventually bored from the game they set it aside. Ron began a conversation with Seamus- who had recently woken up. Harry had quickly stopped following the conversation, which was debating which Cannons beater was more efficient at targeting players on the pitch.

Instead, Harry set his head against the window, and stared out at the blurs of trees and farms that littered the grasslands surrounding them. He tries to focus on the rhythmic grunt of the trains wheels and soon it was all he could hear, until a new sound entered his audible range.

A screeching blare seemed to be whistling directly in his eardrum, causing him to clap his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the ringing.

'Harry? Are you alright?'

Slowly, Harry removed his hands, and looked around. The whole car was staring at him as if were going insane, trying to block out the multiple voices of his mind.

'Did you hear that?' Harry asked.

The noise was gone now, but it left Harry curious. It had been such a powerful deafening hum, yet there was no evidence that anything out of ordinary had occurred.

'Hear what Harry?' Ginny asked, slightly concerned, the last time Harry had been hearing things others couldn't was in her first year when Riddle had possessed her.

Harry swallowed, noting immediately that no one else had heard a thing, 'nothing, never mind, I must just be tired or something, maybe I'll take a nap.' He mumbled, before turning over and staring out the window, missing the looks his friends exchanged.

When Harry awoke an hour or so later, he not only discovered that they were nearly there but also that the ringing was back, and was now succeeding in giving him a killer headache of which was nearly impossible to ignore. Biting his lip, he suppressed a groan and placed his ear against the window hoping that it might help in some way.

Hermione and Ron glanced at each other as they watched Harry curl up against the window. Something odd was going on with him, not that there wasn't always something odd going on with their mysterious friend, but something was going on that caused them to worry slightly. It wasn't the first time Harry was hearing things that only he could hear, nor was it the first time that he was keeping something from them. They both had a feeling that they were going to have to keep a close eye on their friend this year. This year was going to be more difficult and challenging for all of them, yet they had a distinct impression that it would be even more so for Harry.

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A near forty-five minutes later, the Hogwarts express pulled into Hogsmeade Station.

Finally! Thought Harry. The ringing had ceased to stop, in fact the closer they seemed to come to the castle the more pronounced and deafening the sound got. He barely recognized that the train had come to a halt, and if it weren't for the vast hand gestures of Ron, he would not have even know that it was time to get off the train.

They approached the carriages quickly, for two reasons. The First being to get a carriage to themselves, the second, to avoid the Slytherins, whom up until now had not bothered them, all train ride. Apparently, it was not to remain so, for as they approached an empty cart, a mob of Slytherins clad in their robes, and other House garments intercepted their path.

The Gryffindors rolled their eyes; it was pathetic. These… snakes, had nothing better to do then bother those whom they didn't like, just to reverberate how much they dislike them and all that they stood for, it was pointless and getting rather old.

'Still alive scarhead,' Malfoy uttered, a phrase none to unfamiliar.

'Still a daddy's boy, ferret,' Harry responded unfazed.

Malfoy blushed lightly, but did not back down, 'well at least I have one.'

That was below the belt.

Harry was already in a bad mood, thanks to his headache but that nearly pushed him over the edge, as he lunged for Malfoy another voice entered the scene. It was one he had heard before, but was surprised to hear now.

'Let them be Malfoy.'

'No one asked you Blaise,' Malfoy replied, now glaring at the boy in front of him.

'Nor did they ask you, now let them be,' Blaise replied coldly.

Harry and the other Gryffindors were confused, not but a year ago, it was well known that Blaise and Malfoy were good chums, what happened? Why the sudden rift? Was it possible that wizards could be a Slytherins and not be evil? Or was Blaise a precedent?

Returning to the scene before them, they watched as Blaise stared down the group of malicious Slytherins- students of his own house! Whatever trick Blaise possessed it worked, the mob left with nothing but a departing sneer in their general direction.

Blaise stuck around just a moment longer, he looked directly at Harry, nodded his head and walked quickly off in the direction of the carriages.

'Did he- I mean, did he just-'

'Yes, Ron, he did' Hermione answered, for once just as bemused as the rest of them.

Harry continued to stare after the departing image of Blaise Zabini, 6th year Slytherin, Slytherin! That was until the buzzing in his head became once again noticeably insufferable and he headed off for one of the last few carriages, pulling along the rest of the group. One thing he was sure of, this year was sure to be like no other.

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Things were certainly different around Hogwarts this year, this became quite noticeable as Harry, and the group came through the entrance hall, and moved toward the great hall, where a grand feast was awaiting them.

The atmosphere of the castle seemed more distant to Harry than ever before, what had once been his refuge was now something as abnormal as muggles were to wizards and vise-versa. He had no known reason for thinking this, but perhaps the continuous obnoxious ringing that was nearly blowing out his eardrums negatively influenced the comforting prospect the castle usually brought. He had to fight the urge to cup his hands over his ears, in a pitiful attempt to block the noise out. He couldn't figure out what was the problem, and why he was the only one that seemed affected by it.

However, that was always the case wasn't it? Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, the only one to survive the killing curse, one of few to faint at the mere presence of dementors, and one of few to defy Lord Voldemort and live to do so again.

While the atmosphere, itself, was different, that was not the only thing that affected the greetings at Hogwarts. As Harry looked up to the staff table from his seat at the Gryffindor table, he focused on the other source of the problem. Dumbledore.

The old professor was sitting tall in his chair at the center of the long row of seats, set behind the equally long table. He appeared to have not seen Harry, whether by choice or by innocent unawareness.

Dumbledore still had yet to contact him. He had seen him once or twice around Grimmauld Place after their fight, but neither one had acknowledged the other. However, Harry did not care, he wasn't about to back down. He knew he was right, this time.

The group waited patiently for the rest of the students to file in and take a seat. Eventually, everyone was seated and the first years trailed in nervously behind Professor McGonagall- who was carrying a stool with a shabby hat on top of it.

Harry could hear her talking to the first years at the front of the hall, he remembered the speech from his first year when he had placed the hat on his head and had argued with the sorting hat to place him in Gryffindor. After her small speech finished, the old hat had began its song:

_Alas, another years arrives_

_New faces, old foe's_

_And I remain to sort you into the houses_

_where you'll strive_

_The question that rests within all your minds_

_Is where do you belong?_

_However, do not worry of that_

_As I shall decide when I've finished with my song_

_Will you be of Gryffindor? _

_Among the ruby's and the lion heart's_

_Or will Ravenclaw suit your wit and smarts._

_But maybe you're Slytherin material_

_With your slyness and your tricks_

_Though, Hufflepuff may also suit _

_Your patience and aptitude with conflicts_

_Though no matter, where you're placed _

_It won't matter, for you all shall face_

_The coming darkness-_

Suddenly the sorting hats song was muted to Harry's ears. He could see the brim of the hat, speaking but no words made it to Harry. He looked around, everyone else was still listening to the song there faces looking more grim by the second. When suddenly Harry heard a voice inside his mind, it was the sorting hat- it was speaking to him.

'_Mr. Potter, we speak again. Please do not talk just yet. _

_It is most important that I communicate with you tonight._

_Watch yourself, Mr. Potter._

_He is back now,_

_And we both know you have a job to do._

_Your power is growing, it has already begun…_

_You must trust your elders to help you to succeed_

_However, for now, I shall have to do…_

_You will find support within these walls Mr. Potter_

_But tread carefully…_

_Not all among these halls is a friend_

_Sacrifice, Betrayal and Unity be key_

_Make haste_

_Do not linger…_

_Fight with a will and vigour_

_Kill or be killed _

_Either way you're the trigger…_

_Good day Mr. Potter, until we speak again…'_

What the hell was that? Harry thought to himself. Why did that bloody hat always have to speak in riddles? And how the hell did it know about the prophecy, for it was obvious that he had somehow been clued into the fact that Harry was going to have to kill Voldemort, or die trying. It was through thinking these thoughts that Harry realized that somehow the ringing that had been pressing on his head since the train ride had ceased, and he was able to think clearly again. Had the sorting hat done that? And what was that noise anyways? All these new questions were succeeding in giving him a brand new headache, and by the time Hermione had smacked his shoulder, to bring him back to the front of the room, Dumbledore was calling for the attention of the student body. He had missed the entire sorting!

'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, now before I come to you all with announcement for the year ahead of us, I am sure you all wish to dig in!' and with that and a smile, the feast appeared on top of the golden plates.

Harry wanted to kick that smile right off Dumbledore's face. How he could just ignore everything that had happened and appear happy before him, it was such a mockery! However, Harry refrained from punching his headmaster and instead turned to the piles of roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings that rested on the table before him.

The meal was as satisfying as always, and the company was pleasurable. Harry hadn't talked much on the train, as he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts and keeping his brain from exploding from the noise. But now he talked with his friends whom he hadn't seen since the end of last school year, when he had been in no mood to speak with anyone really.

He learnt that Seamus had spent the summer working for his dad, a muggle, at his law firm. He had learnt many tricks of the trade, and joked that if Harry ever needed legal help-again- he'd help him out, for a small fee of course! The table had laughed at that! It was well known that Harry and his friends had never held much respect for the laws of the wizarding community.

They had all swapped stories of their summers and odd jobs they had picked up, even Harry told them that he had met a man in the street who had let him work around his house for a small fee- though he refrained from remarking on the fact that the man happened to be McGonagall's brother for he was sure he'd get his arse kicked if he did.

Soon they were all stuffed full, and Ron looked slightly green in the face- either from an over consumption of food or from being forced to listen to the fine points of Parvati's summer flings. He was sure it was due to the second one- seeing, as Ron could never eat too much food!

After having let their stomachs settle for a little, Dumbledore had stood up once more. Ready to give his promised start of term speech. He tapped his glass, and called for the attention of the room.

'Now that we have feasted, I have some start of term notices for you all. First off, first years- and the rest of you- please note that the forbidden forest is strictly off limits. I would advise that unless you wish to end up as our dear prior Professor Umbridge did, to stay out of its foliage,' the headmaster begun.

There was some confusion as to this second remark, as not every student knew of what had occurred with the witch, but Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Harry shared a look, though Harry's was somewhat forced. He did not like to remember that night.

' Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch has asked me to once again remind you that the list of prohibited items is printed on his office door and will be strictly enforced this year. Last year, I believe you all had mistakenly forgotten this, but please take care in noticing that it now includes the use of portable swamps and other devices of the likes'

There were chuckles at this. None had forgotten the previous year, or the pranks that the Weasley twins had entertained them all with.

'It also brings me great pleasure to announce to you all that Professor Snape has stepped down as Potions master in order to- ' He was cut off by the loud cheers and applause, no one seemed to have noticed that the greasy-haired, hooked nose professor was in their company and scowling madly at them all.

'In order to take up the position of Defense against the Dark Arts Professor, Congratulations Professor.' Dumbledore finished, this statement was met with silence and a few groans from a few particularly outgoing students, namely Ron, Harry and Seamus.

'in his stead, I welcome to the staff, Professor Sebastian McCoy, who has agreed to take up the position as potions master- I'm sure you will all do well to welcome him.' With that said, applause commenced though it lacked in enthusiasm only because many were still reeling over the disappointment of still having Snape as one of the professors.

Harry didn't recognize the man that was currently being applauded. The appearance of him seemed friendly, but Harry had learnt not to judge by appearances long ago.

'And now, the hour calls for some more serious discussion. As you are all very well aware, the wizarding world is on the very brink of a war.'

This statement was met with even further silence, nobody liked discussing these things. It was so controversial, in fact among those in the room at that moment there were probably death eaters, deniers, activists, and fighters. It just wasn't something regularly discussed, it hadn't sunk in to them all that by the end of this war, the world could be very different for them. It hadn't sunk in that by the end of this war they might only be _remembered_ by those who are left. That they could die, or lose someone they love, or betray their own, and condemn themselves to worse off fates. Nobody wanted to know what tomorrow would bring them.

'It is our duty to keep you all as safe as possible while attending Hogwarts. However, I cannot caution you enough, to look out for yourselves. The administration and school board has been discussing in great depth about further safety measures for the school, but in the meantime, I strongly urge you all to be on your guard. Do not venture out of the protection Hogwarts offers you, this war is starting whether you deny it or not, and it is your objective to survive it intact.'

Though Harry was incredibly peeved with Dumbledore at the moment, he had to agree with his speech, though by the looks of the students around him- in particular the first and second years- it appeared to him that Dumbledore might have come on too strong. They are only children for pity sake! He thought. But then Harry was a child too wasn't he? No. no he was not and had not been for some time. He understood this war; he needed to understand this war, because he needed to end it. His determination to do so broadened as he looked at the scared faces around him, even some of the professors seemed terrified.

Dumbledore had dismissed them after his warning, and the student body left the hall in a hurry- possibly hoping that by doing so they could leave the war behind. But it would follow them…

Harry walked towards the entrance hall, but glanced back to see Dumbledore staring directly at him. No apology was in his blue eyes, nor any guilt at what he had done, only the look of a stubborn man who aimed to win this war no matter the costs.

What was wrong with the man! It was as if war had driven him to insanity! It was worse than it had been a few weeks ago. And Harry now looked into the blue eyes of another man…but he was not a man anymore he was more of a warrior, and that scared Harry.

He ran through the crowd of students, leaving his friends behind to call after him. He raced up the entrance hall steps and through the halls, taking every possible short cut he could until he reached the room of requirement.

He paced in front of the invisible door, thinking of an empty room in which to think. Once the door appeared, he wrenched it open and threw himself inside. Panting from running all the way here, he slid down against the door and put his head between his knees. Why Me? He thought.

Was it too much to ask to be able to rest for a minute, the war had barely even started and yet he already felt as if he had fought in one. Being sixteen wasn't supposed to be this tough, was it? To have the weight of the world and everyone in it atop your shoulders, it was a heavy load, one he was not so sure he could manage.

**A.N. and I think I'll end this installment there. sorry for the long wait, and I'm sorry that this chapter wasn't very interesting it wasn't one of my favourites and you might be able to tell from grammar errors and the end that it was a bit rushed, sorry but I felt I better get it out sooner or later and I just couldn't find a way to set it all up well. so that's my attempt if your confused anything or want to leave a comment on something- anything at all. Please feel free. **

**Cheers, petroleumjellydotone.**


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